Twitter Reacts To Ninja's Big Announcement
Today, Tyler "Ninja" Blevins made a huge announcement in conjunction with Epic Games. After years of streaming Fortnite content, Ninja himself has finally become a part of the game itself. As of tomorrow, players will be able to purchase a character skin themed after the popular streamer.
"I've dreamt of having a skin in Fortnite since I started playing the game," Ninja said on Twitter. "Today, my dream becomes reality. Get the Ninja Fortnite Skin in the Epic store Thursday 6 p.m. CST-Sunday 7 p.m."
Despite his popularity — and occasionally because of it — Ninja has been something of a controversial figure within the gaming community. It should come as no surprise, then, that responses to this morning's big news varied from positive to negative.
Before we dive into how Twitter reacted to Ninja's big announcement, let's take a look at the skin itself and what it means for Fortnite as a brand going forward. The new Ninja skin is only the beginning.
Introducing the Icon Series
Epic Games has announced the new Ninja Fortnite skin is part of their Icon Series initiative. As described on the Epic Games site, "The Icon Series brings the artistic vision, personality, and attitude of top creators to Fortnite, building on previous collaborations with Marshmello and Major Lazer."
Epic Games' previous collaborations with artists have proven to be extremely popular with players. Marshmello's virtual concert within the game drew 10 million viewers last February. Building upon these kinds of successful partnerships seems to be a natural evolution for the Fortnite brand.
The skin wears a martial arts gi in a bluish hue that matches the streamer's distinctive hair color. The skin will also come equipped with some exclusive goodies, including "Ninja's Edge Back Bling, Ninja Style Emote and Dual Katanas Pickaxe." In other words, Epic put effort into tailoring this new skin to Ninja's fanbase.
Epic Games promises more announcements to come in the Icon Series. For now, though, they've picked a good personality to kick things off. With Ninja's viewership, they'll be sure to get plenty of publicity.
Speaking of which, why don't we take a look at how the internet responded to this announcement?
The good responses
On the positive side of things, there were plenty of people who seemed happy for Ninja and interested in the Icon Series as a whole.
A few fans responded to Ninja's announcement on Twitter saying that they felt he deserved the honor of kicking off these new skins. Others reacted with bizarre memes and references to some of Ninja's previous streams.
For the most part, Ninja's fanbase seems to be very pleased with this announcement. After all, not only is one of their favorite streamers getting to see one of their dreams come true, but it sets an exciting precedent for other content creators to receive similar treatment.
Fellow streamer Dr. Disrespect was one of those who weighed in to congratulate Ninja for the news. "I will say this, it took way too long for Epic to add an influencer skin, let alone a @Ninja skin," tweeted Dr. Disrespect. "Firm handshakes Ninja."
This response also prompted Dr. Disrespect's followers to speculate on what a Dr. Disrespect Fortnite skin would be like. After all, with the introduction of the Icon Series, it's not such a wild concept anymore. It's like a whole new world has opened for streamers.
Some people are not pleased
On the other hand, there were more than a few negative responses.
"Excuse me I'm gonna go [vomiting emoji] because it's no longer 2017," tweeted one user who felt that Ninja and Fortnite's time is long over.
Another user referred to Ninja and the skin as "irrelevant," while others expressed confusion over the very idea that the skin was created in the first place. It should be noted, however, that even many of the negative comments included the skin's image, which is essentially free publicity for Epic.
Some were dismayed that the announcement didn't involve more new Fortnite content. One tweet expressed frustration with Epic for "being gone and doing nothing for the whole Season," referring to a perceived lack of notable updates. In other words, not all of the negativity was based solely on Ninja's announcement. Some gamers seem to feel that Epic Games is focusing on the wrong aspects of the Fortnite brand, which is an interesting idea to consider.
Like it or not, this looks to be a major part of Epic Games' strategy for Fortnite's future. The Icon Series may be here to stay.