Ninja teaches Ellen to play Fortnite, it does not go well

Tyler "Ninja" Blevins drew a lot of eyeballs and attention earlier this year when he spent some time streaming Fortnite with Drake. But now he's really gone mainstream—today, he played his signature game with Ellen.

It's not technically streaming, but rather a guest appearance on Ellen's show. The actual gameplay segment is brief, and they play the game on PlayStation 4, but the overall bit is cute, and more importantly it reflects the continued mainstreaming of Fortnite and of Ninja's household appeal. Ellen makes a show of not knowing anything about Fortnite (at least partly for comedic effect, I'm sure) but the audience is clearly familiar with her guest.

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Despite his tutelage and on-stage enthusiasm for her performance, their team-up is not a successful effort: When Ninja started shooting at other players, Ellen convinced him to try talking it out instead. He was quickly killed, and she followed soon after. They finished in 21st place.

"You flew in to play Fortnite with me, and I've learned nothing," Ellen admitted when it was all over. Hey, at least she did better than Adam Driver. (And was funnier, too.)

This appearance doesn't exactly represent a change in Ninja's attitude about streaming with women, but it's encouraging nevertheless to see Twitch's most-followed person on screen with a beloved female celebrity. Earlier this year, Ninja talked about his decision to completely avoid streaming with women. "If I have one conversation with one female streamer where we’re playing with one another, and even if there’s a hint of flirting, that is going to be taken and going to be put on every single video and be clickbait forever," Blevins told Polygon in August. "The only way to avoid that [gossip] is to not play with them at all ... While I understand some people have implied my views mean I have something against playing with women, I want to make clear the issue I'm addressing is online harassment, and my attempt to minimize it from our life."

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Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.