Microsoft’s streaming platform, Mixer, will be closing down next month. On July 22, 2020, Mixer will be no more as Microsoft partners with Facebook Gaming for its streaming efforts.
Current Mixer partners will automatically gain Facebook Gaming partner status, and those eligible for monetisation on Mixer will be able to continue to have that perk with Facebook Gaming Level Up.
“Ultimately, the success of Partners and streamers on Mixer is dependent on our ability to scale the platform for them as quickly and broadly as possible,” the official post reads.
“It became clear that the time needed to grow our own livestreaming community to scale was out of measure with the vision and experiences that Microsoft and Xbox want to deliver for gamers now, so we’ve decided to close the operations side of Mixer and help the community transition to a new platform.”
Microsoft acquired Beam, the low-latency streaming platform in 2016 which later became known as Mixer in 2017. The platform was rather bullish in its way of building a following. They were the first to publicly sign million-dollar deals for exclusive streamers to be on their platform.
Looks like the strategy didn’t get them to where they want. Facebook Gaming has gained a strong following, especially here in Malaysia where most citizens use Facebook as their go-to-social media. Not that Microsoft will benefit from that exact fact, since they have little gaming presence here in the region.
But still, it’s a much vibrant, and rising community built over on Facebook. Getting backed by Microsoft should give them some advantages on the streaming wars against Amazon’s Twitch and Google’s YouTube.
Source: Mixer