Erik “Niko” Ahrenfield was once a professional Rainbow Six Siege player, yet unfortunately fell off the competitive radar after his team parted ways with him. But to everyone’s amazement, this didn’t stop Erik. Known by his in game alias of “Niko”, he has risen to stardom after continuously displaying his insane mechanics in the game and publishing it for the world to see on his social media platforms.

Niko is extremely well known in the community for his “Reddit worthy” clips that he posts via his platforms; where he showcases hilarious moments in the game or even tricks of the trade that no one knows about. His hard work and dedication to the game has made his content become noticed by the likes of popular streamer, shroud; with shroud showcasing a clip of Niko’s live to thousands of viewers on Twitch.

With all of that being said, I wanted to learn more about Erik and what he stands for. So I set up a meeting with him and we discussed who he is, what his plans are and how he got to where he is today.

Ben: “So Niko, as of late you have risen to stardom on the likes of Reddit and Twitter. I’m sure people are wanting to know who you are and what you are aiming to do in this community or abroad.”

Niko: “Ahh, well my name is Erik Ahrenfield or otherwise known as Niko. I’m a content creator within this space and I’m looking to be known for adding a different flare to Rainbow Six Siege, in terms of content creation.”

As stated in my opening paragraph, I mentioned that Niko was once a professional Rainbow Six Siege player. Although Niko parted ways with his previous team, I wanted to learn more about why he transitioned into content creation.

Ben: “Before you started your content creating, you were more known for competing under Dark Sided’s Rainbow Six team. What made you change focus to streaming after departing that roster?”

Niko: “At the start of the year, I started what I believed to be my professional career in the Rainbow Six Siege pro league; something I had been waiting for, for a long time. I turned eighteen just in time for the APAC Finals LAN event in Sydney. I believe I did the best to my ability for a support player, until I found out plans to remove me for a another player was on the tables. I didn’t want my three years of Rainbow Six to go to waste, so I turned to content creation with the platform and here we are today.”

Knowing that Niko just decided to leave the competitive space after finding out some disappointing news, I wanted to know more about if he had any ambitions to return to the competitive scene.

Ben: “By the sounds of it, you were excited to catch your break in the competitive space. Now that you have had a break from your last encounter with your old team, do you have any ambitions of returning to play?”

Niko: “To be honest… a fragment of competitive play remains in my mind everytime I sweat a little in Siege. But at this point in time, I’m happy where I am with my streaming and content creation. It would take a lot for me to return, but the ambition is definitely still there.”

Moving away from his competitive aspects in the game, I wanted to learn more about his content creation and where he gets the creative thought process whilst in game.

Ben: “You have become somewhat of a star recently in the Rainbow Six Siege community, with you posting hilarious, odd and down right crazy clips. Not only that, but some of your clips have been viewed by shroud on his live stream. How does it feel to catch a break with your content?”

Niko: “I can’t actually describe the feeling of uploading something and seeing such a positive reaction to it; from comments of people saying how much it helped them out, to seeing people I’ve never met before trying out my spots in a match I’m playing in. And of course, shroud viewing my clip is mind blowing.”

Ben: “What is your chain of thought when you put these clips into fruition?”

Niko: “Most spots are the result of either a couple days or a couple weeks of trial and error; resulting in finding either a simple jump anyone can do in their first try or a very difficult jump coming down to a single pixel, requiring practice. In terms of actually uploading them, it comes down to two questions, “Is it original?” and “Is it practical?”. If it ticks both boxes, then it’s just a matter of getting a stylish kill, recording it and uploading it.”

Ben: “You said earlier that you are enjoying the content creation side of things, so I’m curious to know; what are your ambitions as a streamer in this space?”

Niko “Currently streaming for me can only be classified as a hobby. My goal is to reach the level of being able to do this full time, which sometimes for me seems a bit far fetched, but it is still a goal. Making friends and connections with larger content creators has been a great part of this journey, making it another goal of mine to have my name up alongside them in the Rainbow Six Siege community.”

After learning a fair bit about Niko and his ambitions within the Rainbow Six Siege community, I was curious to know what’s coming up in his life.

Ben: “You have obviously had a successful year so far, but I’m curious to know how you are going to progress on. So, what is on the horizon for you?”

Niko: “It’s a hard question to answer to say what my horizon looks like. But all I can say is if I was asked this question one month ago, my answer would not be what I’m doing today.”

It was a pleasure sitting down with Erik and learning more about who he is. I myself am a big fan of his work and hope that all my readers check out his platforms below for my context on who he is.

Stay connected with Niko moving into next year, as I’m sure he will not disappoint! Follow his Twitter here and check out his streams on Twitch.

Photo by ESL / Ubisoft