Is Ninja the Best Fortnite Player in the World? Stats & Rank Explained

Although Dream is not the number one Twitch and Fortnite streamer anymore, we can’t deny that he is still relevant in the Fortnite community, but does his rank match his fame, or is he simply piggybacking off of old fame? Is Ninja the best Fortnite player in the world?

As of 2023, Ninja is not the best Fortnite player in the world. His dedication to the game was lost sometime in mid-2018, only a year after the game was released, and so naturally, he fell in ranks, but it doesn’t deny the fact that he once was the rank one Fortnite player.

So what is his current rank? Who exactly is the best Fortnite player, and what happened to Ninja? Why was he so good at the game and then fell off the success wagon for Fortnite? Let’s find out in the rest of this article.

Ninja’s introduction to Fortnite

Fortnite is a battle royale type of game, and while it isn’t the first, it was certainly the most popular. Ninja was familiar with the genre and has found that the battle royale genre is something he’s good at.

It started with the game H1Z1 which helped him gain a bigger following on Youtube. He began playing the game all the way back in 2015, and only two years later, he set the world record for the most kills ever in a match and became the rank one player in North American servers.

This all brought him the first bit of success on Twitch. His gameplay consisted of consistently gaining at least 20 kills in a single match, which guaranteed an easy transition to Fortnite back when it first came out in July 2017.

Early days in Fortnite

Only 12 days after Fortnite was released, Ninja finished his first game with 20 kills and finished a match with 25 kills only three days later. It didn’t take long before the player base started recognizing Ninja as an amazing Fortnite player. Even better for Ninja’s success was that this brand-new audience helped him gain popularity.

Not even a year after the game was released, the number of registered users skyrocketed. In 2017, there were 20 million registered users, and only a year later, in 2018, there were 125 million registered. That’s a 500% increase in the player base.

Naturally, with a game that had that much success, the player base sought pro players to learn from or watch. Ninja was one of those players.

Viewership in 2017

In October 2017, Ninja averaged 1.5 million monthly views, which grew each following month. In December 2017, it turned into 7.1 million views; by January 2018, it turned into an incredible 35 million views.

Ninja was doing interviews left and right, advising players on strategizing and getting better at the game, and was globally considered the best all-around Fortnite player.

He was the most-watched Twitch streamer in 2018 and the first person to break the 3 million follower mark on the platform. Only the sky was the limit since he was the best player for the first six months of the game’s release and had dedicated his streaming hours to only streaming Fortnite.

Ninja’s edge and downfall.

The thing that gave Ninja the edge over other players in the early days of the game’s release was the fact that he already had a ton of experience with games like Fortnite. It was hard for players with no experience with the genre to catch up to him, but eventually, as other streamers and Youtubers started to catch on in skill level, the edge was lost.

It’s simple business; he had a monopoly during the first six months, and as other players started to catch on, the competition grew stronger, and the audience started to spread out more evenly among other popular streamers that were starting to match Ninja in skill level.

Relatibility lost

It’s hard to pinpoint what exactly makes a streamer successful, but it seems as if, back then, the more relatable the streamer was, the better it was for them. Ninja lost focus and started doing sponsorships and brand deals, traveling across the country and becoming a branded celebrity instead of sticking to what he was before as a professional gamer.

Ninja’s rank in Fortnite

Ninja didn’t quit playing Fortnite, but to consistently be the best in a game like Fortnite, you must keep grinding, playing, and practicing. In 2020, his global ranking was 1.475, although he claimed he could easily be top 50 worldwide if he dedicated more time to it.

Currently, in unofficial power rankings, there’s no mention of Ninja and his username in the top 50 leaderboards. Whether or not

The problem with games like Fortnite

Ninja’s rise and fall in global rankings show us exactly what the problem with games like Fortnite is. To consistently stay at the very top, you must keep playing. The problem is that you have to diversify the content you give out to viewers since seeing the same old gameplay from the same person with the same personality gets boring quickly. In contrast, a new audience can only be attracted by making new content, whether it is a new style of editing, new games you play, or perhaps new content within the same game.

There’s only so much one person can come up with before moving on to the next thing. We are all just waiting for the next big thing in the gaming world that’ll take the world by storm like Fortnite once did.

Current best player in the world

If we look at the pro scene in Fortnite, currently, in 2023, the number one ranked player in the world is Tai Starčić or TaySon from Slovenia, playing for Falcon Esports. The second place goes to Merstach from Latvia; in the third place, we have Malibuca from Russia.

In the top 20 rankings, there’s no mention of Ninja, and we can’t keep saying he’s the best Fortnite player because of old fame.