Streamers Who Have Their Own Video Game Skins
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Few experiences compare to having your own video game skin. It's like the digital version of having your own wax sculpture in a celebrity museum. Steamers who have their own skins often receive them for helping a game thrive in some way, like promoting it through channels with high viewership or donating to a worthy cause. Video game skins thank content creators for involving themselves with the game's community. They also allow fans to support their favorite streamers through in-game means — or just show off cool-looking designs. After all, who wouldn't want limited-edition virtual merch of their most admired internet idols?
Only the most iconic streamers have the privilege of receiving their own skins, whether they're actual character models that look like the streamer or in-game items that represent them. However, some fans might not know the stories behind these skins. Here's how these streamers ended up as the faces of some of the most popular games.
Ninja - Fortnite Icon Series
Tyler "Ninja" Blevins stands out as one of the most famous streamers of all-time, which may be why Epic Games chose Ninja as the first release in the Fortnite Icon Series lineup. The "Icon" moniker certain fits, given Ninja's history as an influential person in the gaming industry. His skin featured his signature spiky blue hair and ninja-themed accessories, like a face mask and dual katanas. The tails of his yellow headband grew longer with every kill.
Ninja began his career in Halo esports, playing for prominent organizations like Cloud 9, Team Liquid, and Luminosity Gaming. Then, he moved on to streaming battle royale games like PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds before eventually landing on Fortnite's island.
Polygon reported that Ninja's followers grew exponentially after he started playing Fortnite. Ninja even claimed that he gained 1 million subscribers in only nine days. In an interview with CNBC's Make It, Jessica Blevins, Ninja's manager and wife, said that he made about $1 million per month by streaming Fortnite, without any other revenue factored in. Ninja remains a relevant part of the Fortnite community, making him Epic's ideal choice for this skin.
Ninja, MrBeast, G2 Esports, and Aim Lab - Fall Guys
Mediatonic promised skins to the top bidders in its charity auction for SpecialEffect, a UK-based organization dedicated to helping physically disabled gamers. This Battle of the Brands pitted content creators and organizations against each other for their own custom bean bodies. In the end, Ninja, MrBeast, G2 Esports, and Aim Lab came out on top with a $1 million dollar joint bid.
The winners weren't all streamers like Ninja, but they did have video game-related reputations. MrBeast, one of YouTube's most viral philanthropists, occasionally streams gaming content, donates money to streamers like Ninja, and rakes in millions of views with videos of his expensive stunts. G2 Esports supports multiple teams that compete in games like League of Legends, CS:GO, and Valorant. Lastly, Aim Lab offers first and third-person shooter training software for esports teams.
Mediatonic released each of the limited edition skins between late 2020 and early 2021 for a limited time. The Ninja skin mimics his Fortnite look with a spiked hairstyle and black and blue sweats. MrBeast's bean resembles his channel logo, a blue beast with pink lightning stripes above its eyes. G2 Esports isn't a singular person, so the company's skin sports a samurai outfit based on its logo. Similarly, Aim Lab's skin wears a futuristic suit with the company's logo on its chest.
Loserfruit - Fortnite Icon Series
Kathleen "Loserfruit" Belsten, or Lufu for short, follows Ninja as the second streamer featured in the Fortnite Icon Series. She ranks as one of the top female streamers, with over 2.5 million followers on Twitch and 3.82 million on YouTube. And those numbers don't even include her two other YouTube channels: Lufu for vlogs and Loserfruit Daily for everyday gaming videos. According to ProGuides, Lufu's followers grew by 400,000 on both her Twitch and YouTube channels within a month of her skin's release.
The outfit consists of a rainbow-accented hoodie and leggings, a plushie-filled backpack, and a fruit-themed pickaxe. Before Epic Games officially announced her skin, she wore the outfit that inspired her character design to the Australian Open in January 2020.
Lufu started her streaming career with League of Legends in 2013, then moved to Overwatch, and eventually Fortnite content. Like most of the other Fortnite Icon creators, she still regularly streams Fortnite and keeps updated with in-game changes, like the addition of the LazarBeam skin.
LazarBeam - Fortnite Icon Series
Lannan "LazarBeam" Eacott finally received his own Fortnite skin in March 2021. The popular Australian YouTuber cemented a name for himself in the space with a combination of factors involving his comedic personality, memes, and repeated use of the word "yeet." He has over 18.2 million subscribers on YouTube, where he started streaming exclusively since January 2020.
LazarBeam emerged as a variety streamer in 2015 but received the most recognition for streaming Fortnite. Before he became a streamer, he pursued a career in construction work, like many of his family members. Because of this fact, his skin dons a neon yellow button-up shirt, reflective gloves, and a utility belt to reference his origins.
There are also different versions of the skin, like one wearing safety gear and another carrying the character of Baby Gingy on his back. Epic Games includes a suggestion in its announcement to "take your son to work," likely referencing Lazar's videos about Baby Gingy where he refers to him as his son.
Dr Disrespect - Rogue Company
Hi-Rez Studios called its decision to collaborate with Guy "Dr Disrespect" Beahm a "scripted yet organic conversation played out on social media." When the Doc asked to design a map for third-person shooter Rogue Company, the dev challenged him to design a map in 24 hours — a condition he accepted. He delivered The Arena, a map H-Rez referred to as the Doc's "fictional headquarters," on Twitter the next day.
Dr Disrespect designed The Arena to encourage fast-paced, aggressive gameplay with enclosed spaces and multiple movement options. "The Arena map on Rogue Company will host the most speed, violence and momentum ever experienced in gaming," the Doc said in a press release.
Ultimately, Rogue Company incorporated The Arena into the game. As a plus, the developers added Dr Disrespect-themed items throughout map and a playable character skin that looks just like him, including a fierce mullet and mustache.
The Doc posted his first YouTube video in 2010 and sporadically streamed until he started working for Sledgehammer Games as a Community Manager. From there, he became a map designer for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. In fact, he still sometimes talks about the process on stream. He later left the company to pursue his streaming passion and developed a reputation for taunting (a.k.a. "disrespecting") players in shooters and battle royale games.
Lachlan - Fortnite Icon Series
Lachlan Power is the third streamer to receive a Fortnite Icon Series skin. According to his website, he broke a record as the first Australian gaming YouTube channel to reach 10 million subscribers. In addition to his channel, he manages a lifestyle apparel brand called PWR.supply and Team PWR, an OCE esports organization. The name of his lifestyle brand and org derive from his last name.
He mainly streams Fortnite, but he used to primarily play Minecraft. Under the name CraftBattleDuty, he created a Pixelmon server called Pokeballers and streamed single-player episodic content on his channel.
The lightning symbols and bright yellow accents on his Fortnite skin likely reference PWR.supply's aesthetic. His bundle includes the PWR Pack back bling, which equips his brand's logo on the back of the skin's jacket. Lachlan said on stream that he picked an alternate version of the backflip emote instead of a dance because it felt more authentic to him.
Summit1g - CS:GO Operation: Broken Fang
Jaryd "Summit1g" Lazar doesn't have a skin, exactly. However, he does have his very own loadout. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive introduced loadout cards, or premade equipment sets, in Operation: Broken Fang with its Retake mode. The 1g loadout includes a helmet, armor, defuse kit, and Molotov.
Interestingly, Valve didn't approach Summit directly about their tribute to him. Instead, he found out from fans in his Twitch chat while streaming Escape from Tarkov. Considering Valve added the "1g" moniker to the game, there may be another opportunity for other references based on CS:GO players to trickle into the game in the future.
Summit used to be a professional CS:GO player, but that changed after Dreamhack Austin 2016. Fans recognize the 1g loadout as a reference to Summit's career-defining failure at that year's competition. He clutched a 1v1 for Splyce in what would've been a winning match, but accidentally stepped on his own Molotov. Since then, CS:GO players have been spamming "1g" whenever someone dies to their own Molotov. Summit no longer plays professional CS:GO, as he's mentioned that he's all burnt out on the game.
TheGrefg - Fortnite Icon Series
David "TheGrefg" Martinez, one of Spain's top streamers, is a newer addition to the Fortnite Icon Series and the first from a country where English isn't the primary language. He holds over 16.7 million followers on Youtube and 6.8 million on Twitch. TheGrefg's Fortnite skin reveal stream surpassed 2.4 million peak viewers.
According to GINX TV, the Dragon Ball anime likely inspired the skin's floating energy-charged orbs and red "Super Saiyan" reactive effect. To add to the fanfare, Ninja tweeted at his fellow Fortnite star to congratulate him on his record-breaking stream.
Streamers don't all necessarily compete on a professional level, but TheGrefg does. In early 2021, Esports News UK reported that he placed second alongside Fortnite pros like Benjyfishy in Combat Gaming's charity tournament. Outside of his Fortnite streams, TheGrefg manages his own esports team called Team Heretics. He also published a book titled Los secretos de YouTube, where he reflects on his streaming successes and shares advice.
Sykkuno, Dream, and more - Among Us
Ottomated, an Among Us modder who integrated voice chat into the game, also created custom accessories based on some streamers and posted them on Twitter, along with submissions from other artists. These might not be official skins, but they still drew enough attention to the make the rounds on media outlets and garner reactions.
Sykkuno, Valkyrae, Ludwig, and Corpse Husband are only a few of the many streamers that have publicized Among Us. Their responses to Ottomated varied from grateful thank yous to a meltdown from Ludwig, who Ottomated trolled with a "pimple" accessory before revealing the real one: a hairpiece that resembled the streamer's luscious locks.
Unfortunately, these streamer-specific items are only available to the content creators themselves, and not to the general player base. Whether or not that changes in the future hasn't been confirmed.
Many popular streamers continue to play Among Us and regularly draw audiences on Twitch. United States House Reps Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar even played with Pokimane, Myth, and other top creators.
Pokimane, xQc, and more - Rust custom skins and items
Streaming powerhouses boosted Rust's popularity in early 2021. GINX TV reported that the combined viewership from Los Angeles-based OfflineTV creators and the Egoland server rocketed the game's viewership to its highest point. OfflineTV created a private server of at least 50 popular streamers, including those featured with in-game items. Egoland consists of well-known Hispanic creators like TheGrefg, Ibai, and others who each drew about 100,000 viewers on average while streaming from their own private server.
Rust already had a sizeable community since its release in 2013, but the player base inflated after famous streamers joined the scene. Facepunch Studios collaborated with Twitch creators Auronplay, Jacksepticeye, Lilypichu, Ludwig, Myth, Pokimane, Shroud, Sykkuno, and xQc on custom drops during the height of the game's popularity. For a limited time, fans could earn items and skins based on their favorite streamers by watching them play Rust. Drops varied from cosmetics like a cutesy Lilypichu-themed hoodie to a garage door with Pokimane's face painted on it. According to TwitchTracker, viewership peaked in January 2021 and only started to stabilize after the trend dwindled and the streamers moved onto other games.
Dr Disrespect, Shroud, and more - PUBG custom skins and items
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds drew the attention of popular streamers upon release. Dr Disrespect and Shroud were two of the most prominent players in the community, so PUBG thanked them with custom skins based on their aesthetics. These skins aren't in-game character models, but unique gun designs: the Doc's is red and Shroud's is gray. Later, Twitch partnered with PUBG to release another set of limited-edition items as drops for streamers like Just9n, Mithrain, and others. Twitch and its partners haven't announced another round of creator skins, although that could be because of how substantial these previous two drops were.
Some streamers, like Ninja, think that PUBG offered the skins mainly as a promotional stunt to keep players interested in the game after Fortnite threatened its player base. Ninja may have been right — ultimately, many of the streamers featured in PUBG skins eventually moved onto other games like Fortnite and Valorant.