The Real Reason Ninja Says New Streamers Should Avoid Big Games

Among the most popular streamers, one name sticks out in the mainstream culture. While Ninja might not hold all the streaming records he used to, he is still a massive presence with over 18 million followers on Twitch. The blue-haired streamer has been back on his "Fortnite" grind, despite some issues between him and Epic Games, That being said, he wouldn't recommend new content creators also hop on the "Fortnite" train.

In a video for CNET, Ninja said that new streamers should avoid playing the most popular games, something that might sound counterintuitive. "Unless you're one of the best players in the game, when you start off streaming and you're trying to build a brand from scratch, it's important to start with a smaller game that has a smaller, more tight-knit community," Ninja said. His advice was that new streamers should play lesser-known titles, to avoid being buried by the multitude of big streamers who are playing games like "Call of Duty: Warzone," "Fortnite," and "Valorant." New streamers might have an easier time building a community and a following by playing the games that other people aren't. While most new streamers aren't going to reach the heights of Ninja or xQc, starting small could be a smart move. Ninja does provide a real example of this working, although it might be out of date.

While Ninja starts the CNET video explaining that becoming a streamer wasn't yet a popular thing when he did it, he uses his own beginning as an example. Ninja said that when he started out he was playing "Halo Reach" professionally and when he would go to stream the game, there would only be 30 to 40 other people online playing the same game. That meant when people clicked on the "Halo Reach" category, his stream wasn't too hard to find for someone who scrolled down even a little bit.

Ninja's other piece of advice is likely not going to be as easy to follow as the previous one. His said that gamers should be one of the best, if not the best player in whatever game you are streaming. His logic here is that many of the people watching streams aren't the best gamers themselves and want to learn new strategies and techniques from watching good players. It can be hard to prove why people might watch a stream but regardless, most people are going to struggle to compete at the highest skill level.