Ninja kind of set the world on fire when he abandoned Twitch for the far less popular Mixer back in August. He'd been the biggest streamer on one of the biggest streaming platforms for some time. There was really no question that he was (and is) the most popular streamer in the world. It also follows that he made boatloads of cash. We thought his transition to Microsoft's smaller streaming service was, well, to make even more money. While we're not saying that's no longer the case, his manager and wife Jessica Blevins recently reaffirmed to Business Insider that money had nothing to do with the decision. Instead, it was their restrictive contract with Twitch that motivated them. One of the contract's biggest flaws was how it limited Ninja's ability to obtain licensing deals.

"With the wording of how that contract was going, he wouldn't have been able to grow his brand much outside of gaming," Jessica said. "There were already conflicts with his current sponsors and resigning with that platform. And we were like, 'Straight up, guys, we've worked so, so hard to grow the Ninja brand to license things and get his name out there. We can't go backwards with it.' So that's where that deal just really started not making sense."

On top of the contract, Ninja's chatroom had become a bit of a cesspool. The toxicity wore him down and it wasn't until Microsoft came along that he felt like he could reset. Some of those sludge monsters have undoubtedly followed him to Mixer.

If Ninja's contract with Twitch really was so bad, I can't help but wonder how unique it was. He was the platform's top streamer by far, so it would make sense if he had a totally unique deal. On the other hand, if Twitch's other top streamers have similarities in their contracts, we could see more moves to Mixer in the future. No doubt no one will get the kind of Microsoft money that Ninja did, though.