Ninja was paid $1 million by EA to promote Apex Legends

Richard Tyler Blevins, better known to the world as Ninja, was one of a number of influencers who switched from their normal routine to tweet about and stream EA’s Apex Legends, when it was announced out of the blue last month. According to a report by Reuters this wasn’t an accident or just because he was interested in the game, but because EA paid him $1 million (£750,000) to do so. It’s unknown how many other influences EA also paid but Reuters claims it definitely includes Shroud, although it’s unknown if he was paid the same amount. $1 million is twice Ninja’s monthly earnings from streaming, although he long ago started making more money from advertising and merchandise than from Twitch – his absences from streaming leading him to lose 90% of his subscribers over the last year.