Epic recognizes Tyler Blevins with a Fortnite skin

In a nutshell: Epic just announced the Fortnite Icon Series. The updates will issue periodically featuring skins and cosmetics styled after famous personalities. Each will also have a unique emote and weapon. The first patch pushes out on Thursday and the skin will be available via the Fortnite store.

Teal-haired gaming phenom Tyler Blevins, aka Ninja, is getting his own skin in Fortnite. Blevins was popular on Twitch before Fortnite came along, but Epic's Battle Royale game propelled him into a household name. His popularity has landed him endorsement contracts and book deals, and his income reportedly ballooned to $10 million in 2018.

Now Epic is honoring him by making him the first "icon" to have a Fortnite skin modeled in his likeness. "First" because he is not the only one Epic is planning to digitize into the game. The publisher will feature other popular personalities, including Loserfruit, TheGrefg, and others, in its "Icon Series" of updates.

It is not just the streamer's image that is coming either. The skin comes with cosmetics, including Ninja's Edge Back Bling, Ninja Style Emote, and Dual Katanas Pickaxe (preview above).

The update goes live Thursday, January 16, at 7:00pm EST. Blevins tweeted that you could use the promo code "NINJA" between Thursday and Sunday, but did not elaborate on whether it scores the skin for free or at a discount.

It all seems a bit cheesy to me, but like him or not, there is no denying Blevins' popularity. He has appeared in television commercials and even played a little Battle Royal with Ellen DeGeneres on her daytime talk show. When he recently moved away from Twitch to broadcast on Mixer, he amassed more than a million subscribers in less than a week.

So don't be surprised when you see a bunch of Ninja lookalikes running around in your next Fortnite match.

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