Streaming video games, playing them professionally, and creating game-related content continues to be a popular pastime and full-time job for people who attract thousands of viewers, and 2018 was no exception with some big names branching out from their usual formula to host events and step further into the mainstream.
Videos by ComicBook.com
For ComicBook.com’s Favorite Video Game Personality category of the Golden Issue Awards, we looked for some of the content creators and gamers that we and others spent the most time watching in 2018. Several streamers, hosts, and players stood out as people who helped shape community discussions around games and provided nearly endless entertainment, but there was one who stood out as a name to know if you were even remotely involved with the industry.
And the winner of Favorite Video Game Personality is…
Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, a video game personality best known for his Fortnite streams!
If you follow gaming and streaming news, particularly when it comes to Fortnite, it would’ve been hard to go through all of 2018 without hearing or seeing Ninja’s name at least once. Starting out as a competitive player and streamer within the Halo community, Ninja was catapulted to the height of streaming fame by entertaining viewers as he coasted upwards alongside the popularity of Fortnite.
While Ninja became better known throughout 2018 as he played Fortnite, one of the moments that expanded his reach to casual gamers and even those who hardly played games at all happened early in the year when he played Fortnite with Drake. The stream became one of the most memorable gaming moments of the year, and made Ninja known to those who even had just a cursory knowledge of streamers.
Ninja also hosted his own Fortnite tournament in 2018, and people often tried to figure out how much money he was making as the biggest full-time streamer who had sponsorships, subscribers, and other income generators. He lost tens of thousands of followers just from taking a two-day break from the game, but he still broke records by becoming the first streamer to ever hit 10 million followers. Ninja even made more than one appearance alongside Ellen DeGeneres during her show.
Though he won the Favorite Video Game Personality award, Ninja wasn’t alone in the category. The rest of the nominees can be found below, but feel free to tell us in the comments or on social media if you had a favorite gaming personality for this year.
List of Nominees:
- Tyler “Ninja” Blevins [WINNER]
- Dominique “SonicFox” McLean
- Imane “Pokimane” Anys
- Mariano “SquishyMuffinz” Arruda
- Tyler “Tyler1” Steinkamp
