Fortnite streamer peaks at 667,000 concurrent viewers, breaking own record
Las Vegas Esports Arena inaugural event becomes record-breaking Twitch stream
Shattering his own record, Fortnite streamer Tyler "Ninja" Blevins peaked at 667,000 concurrent viewers during an exhibition event in Las Vegas.
The newly opened Esports Arena in the Luxor Resort and Casino played host to the event which saw top-level Fortnite players battle it out live on Twitch.
As the latest addition to a growing number of dedicated esports and professional gaming venues, the Las Vegas Esports Arena is a monument to the increasingly mainstream appeal of esports.
Officially opening its doors for the first time last week, the 30,000-square foot, multilevel area has been designed to to host all forms of competitive gaming from daily play to the biggest esports events.
"I did not think [starting to play Fortnite] would be here, ever. That's just because, I don't think a game has ever done this," Blevins told ESPN after the venue's inaugural event.
"You have popular esports games like League of Legends and those are obviously super popular and competitive, but a game that's gone viral and infected the world, really, especially with a younger audience, it hasn't happened since Minecraft, in my opinion."
While Blevins' new record is -- comparatively speaking -- only a fraction above his previous numbers, it demonstrates the newfound pulling power of video games in the age of Fortnite.
Last month Blevins set the single-streamer record on Twitch with just over 600,000 concurrent viewers when he was joined by several celebrities including rappers Drake and Travis Scott, plus American football pro JuJu Smith-Schuster; the previous single-streamer record was held Guy "Dr Disrespect" Beahm who peaked at 388,000 in February.
According to ESPN, Blevins' high-profile stream catapulted him to No. 3 on the list of most social interactions in March, just behind Cristiano Ronaldo and LeBron James. Proof, if any more was needed, that video game personalities are slowly beginning to eclipse mainstream ones.
The overall record for most concurrent viewers for a single-streamer is actually held on YouTube by Rubén "elrubiusOMG" Gundersen who broke 1.1 million during a Fortnite tournament last month.