The Call of Duty franchise is a titan of the gaming world, and it has an established esports scene. However, the brand isn’t without its controversies — the player base has complained about CoD’s mechanics and developer decisions, content creators have been quitting in waves and recent statements from Fortnite star Tyler “Ninja” Blevins solidify the influencer’s disappointment. Here’s everything we know about Ninja’s thoughts on Call of Duty, which may make him the game’s most well-known ‘hater.’
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Asking ‘Who is Ninja’ opens up a rabbit hole of esports lore. Tyler “Ninja” Blevins is one of the most famous streamers of all time, as well as a key player in the gaming and esports worlds. Ninja got his start in Halo 3, where he played professionally for several organizations including Cloud9, Evil Geniuses and Luminosity Gaming until 2017.
Upon Fortnite‘s release, Blevins cemented himself as one of the title’s best players, also shifting his focus from esports participation to streaming on Twitch. Ninja had a meteoric rise throughout the late 2010s, gaining millions of followers and becoming a celebrity. He played a critical role in bringing esports and gaming into mainstream pop culture and also sparked many memes, including the infamous ‘low taper fade.’ Ninja’s exclusive streaming deal in 2020 with rival site Mixer also sparked a new era of competition among streaming sites, proving gaming influencers could be highly lucrative for media companies.
In 2020, Ninja became the first inductee to Fortnite’s ‘Icon Series’, receiving a skin to commemorate his influence in the game. As of April 2025, Ninja had over 19.2 million followers on Twitch, making his the most-followed Twitch channel of all time. He continues to stream actively, mostly playing Fortnite and Marvel Rivals and providing commentary on gaming and pop culture.
As one of Fortnite’s most well-known creators, Ninja is extremely familiar with the Battle Royale genre. Gritty game Call of Duty: Warzone may be a far cry from Fortnite’s playful atmosphere, but both titles are technically Battle Royales all the same.
This overlap has led Ninja to comment on the Call of Duty franchise several times, with a consistently unfavorable outlook. In February 2025, Ninja commented on Call of Duty in a livestream, calling the franchise’s fans ‘brain dead’ and ‘obsessed.’
In full, Ninja stated:
Call of Duty is still… It’ll just never die […] because the fan base is just brain dead, and you know they’re obsessed with it. It’s one of those things where it’s just too big to fail.
– Ninja
He elaborated on the technical reasons for his disappointment, naming the franchise’s tight release schedule as a key factor:
I think it’s gross. Like, just the turnover rate. […] Just churning it over, bro… here’s another Call of Duty! Here’s another Call of Duty! Here’s another Call of Duty, here’s another Call of Duty.
– Ninja
Ninja was not finished expressing his feelings about the Call of Duty community. After his statements about CoD’s turnover, he continued in a ‘crash out’ about the game’s player base:
All you COD players, you guys have the biggest ego on the planet… just like tiny, tiny ** masculine issues.
– Ninja
He then imitated a Call of Duty player, saying:
“I play Call of Duty, dude. I play a REAL game, dude… I ain’t gonna play some little kiddie game with little kiddies runnin’ around shooting little kiddie guns. I play f***ing Call of Duty, man. It’s my duty. I’m being called, and I gotta play it.”
“CoD sucks a$$, CoD is already killing their game slowly by not dealing with cheaters and basically just recreating the same game over and over and over”
Ninja gave his thoughts on Call of Duty👀 pic.twitter.com/a9xXdxjPst
— Jake Lucky (@JakeSucky) April 8, 2025
Later in April 2025, esports journalist Jake Lucky posted on X.com with another statement from Ninja. Blevins reportedly stated: “CoD sucks ***, CoD is already killing their game slowly by not dealing with cheaters and basically just recreating the same game over and over and over.”
Ninja is not alone in his disappointment with Call of Duty Black Ops 6 and the latest Warzon updates— esports icons from the game, including Scump and Nadeshot have also voiced frustration with the title, and content creators left in droves during 2024. Only time will tell if Activision can remedy its player base’s discontent and keep Call of Duty strong and quell negative user experiences.
