Tfue vs. Ninja: Comparing 2 of the biggest Fortnite streamers

Tfue and Ninja are two of the most popular streamers in the world.

Each of their fan bases has experienced incredible growth since the release of Fortnite. Both transitioned to the game from H1Z1 and PUBG, where they were noticeably talented. Upon the release of Fortnite in late 2017, Tfue and Ninja almost immediately caught the attention of fans as some of the most-skilled players in the world.

And while other players have improved greatly and have proven to be skilled in their own right, Ninja and Tfue are still the most popular personas in the Fortnite scene since they’re also great entertainers.

Here’s what you need to know about these two streamers and how they compare to one another.

Background

Ninja started out as a competitor in Halo. The 29-year-old played for high-profile teams like Turning Point, Cloud9, Team Liquid, and Evil Geniuses. Despite having a successful esports career, Ninja decided to fully focus on battle royale games and streaming at the end of 2016 nearly eight years after his first Halo event.

Tfue, now 22, and his older brother JoogSquad started uploading YouTube videos of themselves surfing, skating, and pulling pranks more than 10 years ago. But it wasn’t

Tfue’s original YouTube career actually had nothing to do with video games. Nearly 10 years ago, the 22-year-old began a channel with his brother, JoogSquad, that posted skateboarding, surfing, and prank videos. But by 2016, he started playing games professionally and soon began making gaming content almost exclusively. In 2016 and 2017, Tfue was recognized as one of the best North American H1Z1 players. In 2017, Tfue finished fifth at both the Fight for the Crown and Elite Series Atlanta events.

Accomplishments and prize earnings

While Ninja has been competing longer in esports, Tfue has actually earned more prize money in his career. Thanks to Fortnite, Tfue has won many tournaments both offline and online to bank $602,550. His largest single title win came in the Fall Skirmish grand finals in October 2018 when he and his teammate Cloakzy each won $255,000.

Ninja has won seven tournaments in his career, with four of them coming from his Halo days. In total, he’s earned nearly $270,625 for his performances. His largest win came in September 2019 when he placed fourth with his squad of Kaz, Taco, and TaiDak723 in the Fortnite World Cup Creative Finals. 

Social media stats

Ninja and Tfue have both amassed a staggering number of fans. The two have thousands of viewers in every livestream, becoming larger-than-life personalities within the gaming and esports communities.

At time of writing, Ninja has more than 5.9 million followers on Twitter, 23.6 million YouTube subscribers, and nearly 14.9 million followers on Instagram. 

Tfue’s numbers, while not small, pale in comparison to Ninja. He’s closing in on 3.3 million Twitter followers while boasting 11.8 million YouTube subscribers and 5.5 million Instagram followers. 

Though Ninja has a much larger social media following, Tfue’s more popular in terms of viewership and he currently has a higher growth rate, which means he could get even closer to Ninja’s social media numbers in the years to come.

In-game clashes

While Ninja might have the popularity card up his sleeve, it looks like when the two go head-to-head in a game of Fortnite, Tfue has the upper hand.

Regardless of whether it’s a Solo, Duo, or a Squad match, Tfue has managed to be on the winning side of more than 60 percent of the skirmishes he got in against Ninja.

Streams

When they go live, Ninja attracts around 9,000 viewers on average while Tfue approximately streams to an audience of over 24,000 viewers. Ninja has over three million followers on Mixer while Tfue is closing in on breaking the follower record Ninja set on Twitch with 8.3 million followers.

Ninja’s Twitch channel pushed limits in 2018. With the help of recording artists Drake, Travis Scott, and NFL star JuJu Smith-Schuster, Ninja’s stream exceeded 600,000 concurrent viewers, crushing the then-record in the process. Despite having great success on the platform, though, Ninja decided to take his stream to Mixer, in 2019, to both help a growing platform and open the way up for new streamers.

Related: How much money does Ninja make?

While the move was financially feasible, Ninja’s viewership has dropped by 33 percent since his first stream on Mixer on Aug. 2, 2019. He was still drawing enough numbers to make up almost 6.5 percent of Mixer’s total audience, however. He also holds the record for the highest number of followers on Twitch, which is still impressive considering he left the site almost a year ago.

Tfue’s stream, on the other hand, seems to be outperforming Ninja, especially after he made the switch to Mixer. Tfue had a broader audience than Ninja in May by over 15,000 viewers on average, according to Twitch Tracker. Tfue also picked up the pace in followers and he quickly became the second most-followed channel on Twitch with over eight million followers.