The true test of Ninja's popularity, then, will come in the fall. If one million people start paying for a channel subscription, it will prove that he made the right call ditching Twitch for Mixer, and can grow an audience on almost any platform. For Microsoft, meanwhile, it shows that signing Ninja for a rumored $50 million was worthwhile. Why? Well, all those extra eyeballs should naturally wander while Ninja is offline and raise Mixer's overall viewership. That in turn will attract more creators and, potentially, stave off competition from sites like YouTube, which is planning deep, streamer-friendly integrations with Google's Stadia streaming service.