As Fortnite takes over Vegas, it’s time to pay attention to esports

Streamers like Ninja are proving esports are the real deal and the proof is in a new Vegas arena.

If you have kids or you are a kid, chances are you have heard of esports and games like Halo and Fortnite or Overwatch. Some are played as a solo player and others are team games, but most of these titles are what is referred to is a FPS — or first person shooter — type game. And, not to offend the DOTA fans or League of Legends crowd, these FPS games have led to an explosion in the field of esports competitive games.

Streamers, in particular, are doing something that is really interesting. For starters, they are playing daily and streaming their game play. They’re also being paid by platforms such as Twitch Prime and monetizing their brands on YouTube and other popular platforms.

Ninja is the screen name of Tyler Blevins, a gamer who has become the darling of the streaming community. Blevins has over 7 million followers on YouTube and just over 5 million on TwitchTV. Blevin’s good friend Ben “DrLupo” Lupo is also often found playing Fortnite Battle Royal online. Both are hilarious charismatic and no other streamers seem to be as dedicated as these guys as far as time spent consecutively streaming on an almost daily basis. They are also two of the best players streaming Fortnite on the planet.

In addition to having the gift of being ridiculously good at video games, Belvins is a funny, seemingly pretty level-headed driven content producing machine. When he’s not live you can watch him on YouTube, as he’s playing he will make clips of cool stuff that happens while streaming and add that to an already massive haul of entertaining content for a viewer that wants to laugh or learn or vent.

If his work ethic sounds admirable, that’s because this is his work. Since early this year, he has begun to approach paydays that are over half a million a month from streaming his Fortnite gameplay daily.

Blevins may look like he’s living the dream and to a certain extent he is, but he’s not toying with his subscribers or donators, he just plays the game, has a lot of fun and has a huge heart. He regularly donates time and his winnings to various charities. He’s an entertainment provider and esports is like reality TV meets online poker meets professional sports meets marketing is already becoming a beast.

Twitch allows people to subscribe for a cost of $4.99 per month and pays the streamer a portion of that. In addition, they give Twitch users “bits” which are a currency they can donate to the streamers and the streamers can turn into cash. On top of that, they also receive direct “donos” or donations through their streams.

As many as 650,000 people will watch the best Fortnite player in the world playing with celebrities — including Drake, Steelers wide receiver Ju Ju Smith Schuster and rapper Travis Scott — and eSports news is becoming a topic on talk show radio as well.

And the entertainment industry is listening: The Luxor Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas is building an esports arena specifically for competitive gaming. It’s set to open on April 21, 2018. Ninja is hosting the grand opening event, at which players can pay $75 to enter and play against Ninja for their share of $50,000 in prizes. (If Ninja takes home some or all of the money, he’s stated he will donate his winnings to charity.)

Next: Each State's Sports Mt Rushmore

Esports is now a player in the sports world and that should only grow with more programming and production help to some of these popular streamers.