Microsoft announced that it’s streaming service Mixer is shutting down and the partnership with Facebook Gaming
Microsoft has announced that, from 22nd July 2020, its live streaming service Mixer is shutting down. Microsoft has partnered with Facebook Gaming and will be migrating all the streams from Mixer to Facebook Gaming.
Microsoft struggled to compete with YouTube and Twitch due to which they decided to shut the service. In an Interview with The Verge, Microsoft’s Head of Gaming Phil Spencer said “We started pretty far behind, in terms of where Mixer’s monthly active viewers were compared to some of the big players out there,”. He also added, “I think the Mixer community is really going to benefit from the broad audience that Facebook has through their properties, and the abilities to reach gamers in a very seamless way through the social platform Facebook has.”
Mixer back in 2019, signed ‘Michael “Shroud” Grzesiek’ and Tyler “Ninja” Blevins as exclusive streamer, which saw Shroud and Ninja move away from Twitch, Amazon’s streaming platform. But still was not enough for Mixer to gain popularity and compete with Twitch or YouTube.
On July 22nd 2020, all Mixer streams will be automatically redirected from Mixer to Facebook Gaming, with streamer having an option to move to Facebook Gaming or somewhere else like Twitch. Nina and Shroud will be free agents and can return to Twitch or any other platforms.
There were reports that Facebook Gaming had offered huge contracts to both Shroud and Ninja, but it is still unclear where they will be streaming once Mixer is shut down.
Ninja, in a tweet, said ‘I love my community and what we built together on Mixer. I have some decisions to make and will be thinking about you all as I make them.‘ while Shroud tweeting, ‘I appreciate the Mixer community and everything I’ve been able to do on the platform. I love you guys and am figuring out my next steps.‘
Microsoft plans to use some of the Mixer’s technology like low-latency streaming and use it for Microsoft Teams. With the partnership with Facebook Gaming, Microsoft will bring its xCloud streaming service to Facebook.
What do you think of this huge and sudden announcement from Microsoft and where do you think big streamers like Shroud and Ninja will stream on, let us know in the comments.
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