Fortnite Twitch star Tyler 'Ninja' Blevins went on The Tonight Show last night to chat with host Jimmy Fallon about his rise to fame and the game that got him there. As you do when you appear on a celebrity talk show, he also got Fallon to do something silly - in this case, donning a personalized headband and learning Blevins' signature Pon Pon dance. (If you're unfamiliar with the Pon Pon, brace yourself for this storied piece of J-Pop.)
The Tonight Show is the latest in a long line of celebrity meetups for Ninja. Last month he tried to teach Ellen DeGeneres how to play Fortnite (to predictably disastrous results), and in October he played Fallout 76 with Rick and Morty voice actor Justin Roiland and American rapper Logic (to equally disastrous and less exciting results). He's also scheduled to host a New Year's Eve live stream in Times Square later this month.
All things considered, Blevins' talk with Fallon was one of his most successful and amusing appearances yet. Blevins was enthusiastic and Fallon was receptive, and that's about all you can ask from two grown men discussing the hottest video game on the planet in front of a live studio audience on a mainstream talk show.
On a more serious note, the two also discussed Fortnite's runaway popularity, and while unsurprising, the crux of Blevins' explanation - it's free, it's playable on every platform under the sun, and it's got cross-platform multiplayer - is especially relevant given Epic's recent push for cross-platform support. Last week, Epic announced plans to roll out free, Fortnite-powered tech that other developers can use to integrate cross-platform multiplayer into their games, regardless of what platform and game engine they use. If it finds a foothold, this plan could speed up the growth of cross-platform support, which should ultimately be the norm.
Who could forget Ninja's best-known celebrity meetup: his legendary stream with Canadian rapper Drake.
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