Ninja receives $1,000,000 from EA to promote Apex Legends

According to a recent report released by Reuters, Tyler Blevins received around $1 million from Electronic Arts to promote Apex Legends. Tyler Blevins, or Ninja, is one of Twitch’s largest streamers with around 13 million followers on his channel. He’s among the most prolific gaming personalities in the world, and with large patrons like Red Bull, of course this made him one of the first people EA and Respawn Entertainment would contact to promote their new battle royale title.

The game released on February 4, 2019. Ninja began streaming the following day.

SO happy to be back streaming for you guys! Going live, playing the Apex Legend Battle Royal! #ApexPartner https://t.co/QC3Dpr8MTr

— Ninja (@Ninja) February 5, 2019

EA reached out to multiple content creators around the world to promote Apex Legends, but representatives of the company haven’t commented on exact payment amounts.

The battle for the free-to-play battle royale genre seemed to have been at a steady standstill after Fortnite dominated the scene for so long. Blackout, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4‘s battle royale mode, was seen as an early contender (even though it was not free-to-play). EA had to get creative with its marketing strategies for Apex Legends. The target audience is easier to reach when using their idols.

The strategy proved to work as Apex Legends very quickly overtook Fortnite and all other popular titles in viewer count on the Twitch site. EA stated that within the first three days of release, 10 million users signed up to play. EA’s stock market value also rose a massive 16 percent. Another staggering figure: 50 million users signed up for Apex Legends in its first month. That is already a quarter of the users that play Fortnite since release.

Will more companies start using large influencers to promote products now? It seems to be a better form of advertisement and marketing than traditional ads. Teenagers who spend hours gaming are likely to enjoy this content more than a commercial. Apex Legends continues to grow on a daily basis, earning its spot in the top five most-viewed games on Twitch. Let us know how you feel about this type of marketing. Do you think it is effective? Discuss in the comments!