Streamers Tyler "Ninja" Blevins and Malachi "Reverse2k" Greiner don't appear to be as cool anymore following the former's taking offense when made the subject of a Mixer joke.
Ninja, who famously quit Twitch to join Microsoft's Mixer back in August, isn't ready to be poked over his move just yet, which is exactly the mistake Reverse2k made this week during a Fortnite stream with TimTheTatman.
The aforementioned are some of the biggest and best Fortnite streamers on the internet and usually get together to play the battle royale and have a bit of banter. However, things went south pretty quickly during a January 2 stream, after Reverse2k dropped what could best be described as an ill-advised quip.
The streamers were joking about taxes when Tim pulled rank, so to speak, in a call for Reverse2k to show some respect to a streaming OG. Ninja joked that there's no reason to have respect for younger streamers if they didn't have respect for them (the older ones). He added that the youngsters were attempting to encroach on the territory, prompting Reverse to shoot back.
“Dude, we’re not coming into Mixer,” he fired, in supposed jest. Ninja, though, did not see it that way and lashed out immediately.
“That’s not even funny, you’re trying to make it f***ing personal dude,” he snapped. Reverse suggested that was not the case, but that did little to tame the flames and it helped even less when Reverse asked Ninja if he was drinking.
“Shut up bro… bringing up the specific platform in this discussion is irrelevant… do it again, I can’t wait,” Ninja continued. “You think you’re so clever!”
The Mixer star said the comment was uncalled for as they were talking about taxes and not platforms. He seemed to take umbrage at what he felt was an attempt to put him on the spot.
“I will apologize to you right now if you tell me why you said that,” he said. “Tell me why you brought up Mixer right then. Tell me! You didn’t bring it up for any reason whatever except to try and insult me as if moving here is a bad decision.”
“Why did you bring it up?” he pressed.
The players then sat in awkward silence trying to get on with their Fortnite affairs.
“I don’t think it’s that deep bro, it was just a bit of playful banter,” Tim offered. But Ninja had to get in a last piece about Reverse "always bringing up Mixer."
The streamers reverted attention to the game and didn't bring the topic up again, continuing with their conversation without a silent Ninja.
They played a few more games with comms subdued before the session fizzed out.
This all seemed to be a bit of banter but Ninja clearly took it personally and was immediately defensive. As he suggested, it wasn't the first time Reverse brought Mixer up. Maybe he just had enough.
From certain indications - well, the tweet above - the streamers may have broken their duo up. To be fair, though, it seems like something they can come back from quite easily.