Ryan Letourneau (born November 28, 1988),[2][3] better known as Northernlion, NL, or Northern, is a Canadian Twitchstreamer and YouTuber.[4] He is a full-time gaming streamer on Twitch and uploads parts of his streams to YouTube, while also creating content exclusively for YouTube.
Career
YouTube
Letourneau created his YouTube channel "Northernlion" on May 30, 2006.[5][non-primary source needed] In 2011 he began regularly posting content to YouTube full-time, mainly consisting of Let's Play videos of various indie games.[4] In 2011, Letourneau began uploading gaming videos of The Binding of Isaac, which became one of his most popular Let's Play series and helped garner him an online following.[4][6] Alongside other Let's Play videos, Letourneau's videos of The Binding of Isaac were credited with bringing the game popularity; game creator Edmund McMillen stated that Let's Play videos boosted sales of the game.[4] In 2013, Letourneau interviewed McMillen about The Binding of Isaac, where he stated that the popularity of the game convinced him to make Rebirth.[7] One year later, he attended the Game Developers Conference to discuss the impact of Let's Play videos on the sales of various video games, also referencing how the popularity of his Binding of Isaac videos led to increased exposure of the game.[4][8]
Letourneau has also been credited for popularizing other video games with his gaming videos, such as Enter the Gungeon,[9]Slay the Spire[10] and Monster Train.[11] Bob McCann of TechRadar described Letourneau as "[managing] to be both informative and talk through his tactical choices during games, which many viewers find useful."[6] Jonathan Lee of Yahoo! News has also noted Letourneau for his "quick wit."[12]
Twitch
Letourneau created his Twitch channel "Northernlion" on August 5, 2010.[13] On February 25, 2013,[14] Letourneau uploaded the first "Northernlion Live Super Show" (NLSS), a three-hour stream in which he and his co-hosts would play a variety of videogames, usually divided into three one-hour-long segments.[15] He alongside other members of the show were included in the indie game Spelunky 2 as an easter egg.[16] The final episode of the NLSS aired on January 21, 2021.[17][non-primary source needed]
Letourneau riding a bicycle near his childhood home in Ontario
Letourneau was born on November 28, 1988[23][24] and grew up in Greater Napanee, Ontario, Canada, forty-five kilometres outside of Kingston, Ontario. He often says he is from Kingston because "none of you . . . know where Greater Napanee is."[25][26]
Letourneau married Kate Letourneau in May 2014.[27] On September 28, 2020 their daughter was born.[12] The Letourneaus use the alias “Luna” to refer to her online, in order to protect her privacy. [28]
^Letourneau, Ryan (December 3, 2024). "How could this lose to a little robot (The Bazaar)". Event occurs at 5:01. Archived from the original on December 13, 2024. Retrieved December 19, 2024 – via YouTube. 'How'd your daughter react to it being your birthday?' ... And then I said 'you can't whine today, it's Daddy's birthday.'
