As far as mainstream celebrity goes they are under the radar — but they fuel fierce fan adoration and earn exorbitant amounts of cash. Welcome to the world of the gaming superstars.
Colorado’s Jaryd Lazar, 31 — “Summit1g” — a retired Counter-Strike: Global Offensive esports player, streams games like Sea of Thieves, Fortnite, Overwatch, and GTA V. But more often you can catch him playing PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG).
He’s emerged as a leading streamer, with 750,000 Twitter followers and over 550,000 subscribers to his YouTube channel. More importantly, over 3.5 million follow his Twitch streaming profile.
That’s still some distance from the top streamer, Ninja — real name Tyler Blevins — with 3.8 million on Twitter, 13.2 million following on Twitch, and 21 million on YouTube — he’s hosted sessions with Tottenham star Dele Alli.
But to gamers, Summit1g is one of them. In live streaming, it’s Twitch subscribers, rather than followers, who matter, as they pay to watch people play games.
That’s where Lazar is top of the pile. This month, he’d overtook Ninja — amassing over 44,600 subscribers to Ninja’s 42,000. When Lazar heard the news he sent a message to his “dudes”, thanking them.
Lazar has had controversial moments. In April he hosted a game of Fortnite with Jake Paul, brother of infamous YouTuber Logan, and some fans left his channels. Ninja’s no saint: as part of his Fortnite “rules” he won’t play with female gamers due to the fear of being romantically linked to them.
But people still watch their videos and wear their branded snapbacks.
Twitch stars are becoming more influential by the day.
