Every year sees TIME Magazine name the 100 most influential people in the world, and 2019 has seen the world of gaming take a front row spot on this prestigious list. Wednesday, April 17th saw superstar Twitch streamer and YouTuber Tyler "Ninja" Belvins announce his excitement regarding his being named one of TIME Magazine's 100 most influential people for 2019.
Insanely honored and speechless to be on the @TIME magazine top 100 most influential people in the world. https://t.co/TkBCye8BJ9 love to @TeamJuJu
— Ninja (@Ninja) April 17, 2019
Ninja became one of TIME Magazine's 100 most influential people in 2019 thanks to a nomination from Pittsburgh Steelers Wide Receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster who was one of the superstars that Ninja had played Fortnite Battle Royale with on the fateful night where over 600,000 people watched the popular Twitch streamer play with JuJu Smith-Schuster and star hip-hop artists Drake and Travis Scott.
The star NFL player explained that his TIME Magazine nomination for Ninja was for the extremely influential work he has accomplished in helping to dispel the negative views of esports and gaming as a whole and providing a great deal of credibility to the community in the eyes of mainstream culture.
"I play in the NFL, so you’d think I wouldn’t be star-struck much. But last March, when I—along with Drake and Travis Scott—got in a Fortnite game with Ninja for the first time, I was at a complete loss for words! I was among the millions of people all across the world who had been watching Ninja (real name: Tyler Blevins) play Fortnite, the popular video game, every day for months," Smith-Schuster told TIME Magazine. "He was the unquestioned best in the world at his craft, something I had so much respect for both as an athlete and as a fan. Now, he was single-handedly blending gaming and pop culture."
"I’ve been a huge video-game fanatic my whole life. But people have seen it as childish and a waste of time. Ninja was huge in building up the credibility of e-sports." Smith-Schuster continued. "At the end of the day, Ninja is an absolute legend, and someone to whom we owe a lot for making gaming what it is today."
It would be hard to argue that Ninja has indeed been one of the most influential people in the world, as the high-profile Fortnite community members have risen to extraordinaire levels of fame that no video game personality has ever reached before. From appearing in a Super Bowl commercial to having Ellen DeGeneres film a show live during one of his Twitch streams, Ninja can now add the honor of being one of TIME Magazine's 100 most influential people for 2019 onto his already filled to the brim list of accomplishments.
(cover photo courtesy of Red Bull and TIME Magazine)