Ninja Finishes Stream With Cryptic Teaser

Ninja shocked fans today when he made a surprise return to Twitch after nearly a year away. Last night, Ninja hinted to his fans that he would be signing in on his old Twitch channel to stream Fortnite with DrLupo. This morning, Ninja confirmed on Instagram that he had finally gone live on Twitch for the "first time in over a year," and people went absolutely bananas. Even more exciting is the fact that Ninja seemingly hinted that this could become a much more regular occurrence in the near future.

In a clip shared by Call of Duty pro JohnnyManchu, Ninja could be seen signing off from the stream. With a smile, Ninja told his fans, "I'll be streaming soon — and, uh, I love you guys." It almost looked as though there was something else Ninja wanted to add, but he thought better of it. 

So what does this mean? Exactly when will Ninja be streaming again, and where? Well, throughout the stream, Ninja dropped a few little hints about what his plans may be going forward. This was obviously of great interest for both longtime fans and DrLupo, who nudged him with a few questions here and there.

Naturally, the big question on everybody's minds is what this surprise return might mean for Ninja's streaming future. Does this indicate a long-awaited return to Twitch? Is he locked down to a contract that he's keeping hush-hush? Luckily, Ninja addressed these questions early into the broadcast. This being Ninja, he of course did so in a cheeky way.

Putting on a bit of a valley girl voice, Ninja said, "So, I'm kind of, like, in a thing — but not really. Like, I'm allowed to see other people." 

DrLupo piggybacked off of this, joking, "If it were on Facebook, you would say 'relationship is complicated.'" Ninja confirmed this, but then the two didn't get into any further specifics.

In other words, it appears that Ninja is technically still a free agent and can stream wherever and whenever he wants to, at the moment. However, it also sounds like he may be closing in on a new deal of some kind, especially considering what he said at the end of the broadcast about streaming soon. Just under a month ago, Ninja streamed on YouTube, prompting some speculation that he may be considering a move to that platform.

According to games journalist Rod Breslau, this stream with DrLupo doesn't mean that Ninja is officially back on Twitch, but it may be the start of something more permanent. Breslau tweeted, "just as with Ninja's YouTube stream a few weeks back, today's Twitch stream is all on his own and no deal has yet been made. sources tell me both Ninja and shroud are still negotiating between [streaming] platforms with Twitch being the preferred choice (especially for shroud)."

Breslau also pointed out that the Twitch stream didn't net quite as many viewers as last month's YouTube stream. It's unclear if this could impact Ninja's future streaming decisions. At the moment, it almost seems like Ninja is shopping between platforms. 

Ninja has not been on Twitch since he made a high profile move to Microsoft's Mixer platform last year. Unfortunately, Microsoft made the decision to close Mixer down just a couple of months ago, doing so without even giving some of its biggest streamers a heads up. While many streamers were offered deals to move over to Facebook Gaming after the Mixer closure, Ninja and Shroud were both high profile examples of streamers who declined the invitation. 

For right now, it really just looks like Ninja is living his best life and only streaming when he feels like it. However, if Ninja's hints here are any indication, it probably won't be too long before we find out where his true new streaming home will be. In the meantime, fans will probably be excited to learn that Ninja has also set his sight on Hollywood stardom.

According to a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Ninja greatly enjoyed his time working on the upcoming Ryan Reynolds movie Free Guy, which also features a cameo by Pokimane. Since then, he has been considering all of the other forms of media that he can get involved in. Ninja told The Hollywood Reporter's Natalie Jarvey that he's looking into "literally anything and everything Hollywood ... Movies, voice acting, cartoons."

Despite this, it's obvious that gaming and streaming is Ninja's first love in the entertainment world. This morning, Ninja clearly enjoyed his time back on Twitch, even for just a few hours. Hopefully fans won't have to wait another month for the next stream.