Mixer Announces its Shutdown
What the sudden shutdown of Mixer means
written by EZ-R
In a recent turn of events, Microsoft has announced the shutdown of its live game streaming platform, Mixer according to The Verge. This announcement was made on Monday and it has thrown up a lot of debates and drawn out a lot of displeasures from partners and gamers who have been a huge part of the gaming streaming platform.
Mixer was initially founded by Mathew Salsamendi and James Boehm in 2016 under the operating name ‘Beam’. Major strides were made in the next few months which were so massive that Microsoft took notice and decided to acquire and rebrand the company. Microsoft was successful in their acquisition bid, and they immediately renamed it to ‘Mixer’, the name we have come to know it as today.
Since Mixer became a part of the Microsoft brand, it has continued to grow in leaps and bounds, and it was even successful in blowing a lot of other live streaming platforms out of the water due to some smart management decisions which included signing Ninja, one of the most famous streamers and personalities on rival platform Twitch. The decision was hailed as an ingenious move in a lot of quarters, and it surely placed Mixer in a very good position in the live game streaming industry for the foreseeable future.
What Then Happened?
For a platform in the position of Mixer, it is quite surprising that they are announcing a shutdown at a time like this. Affiliated partners didn’t know that the platform was shut down until they were live broadcasting and we’re told by fans not to mention the communities that were being built around it.
However, the management of Mixer has come out to say that this decision is a strategic one and it was made in the interest of everyone involved going forward. For instance, the management said they have been experiencing a lack of demand for the service in the face of stern competition from rival platforms such as Twitch and YouTube.
“We started pretty far behind, in terms of where Mixer’s monthly active viewers were compared to some of the big players out there,” says Phil Spencer, Microsoft’s head of gaming, in an interview with The Verge
The company has been acquired by Facebook Gaming. The closing is due also to the fact that Microsoft is set to launch its soon to be game streaming service xCloud which Mixer didn’t have a big enough audience for.
So, What’s Next?
Mixer announced that they would be officially moving to Facebook Gaming by July 22nd, so users can take the next few weeks to prepare for the impending move. Also, partners are given the chance to follow them and move over to Facebook Gaming.
Rising Conflicts?
As expected there are a number of conflicts rising from this sudden decision to move Mixer to Facebook gaming. The biggest issue is partners who don’t want to move over to Facebook Gaming they have to figure out where their new home will be. Twitch? Facebook Gaming? YouTube or somewhere else? Since the announcement, many partners who felt offended and betrayed have started the process of moving their assets to these rival platforms despite the passionate pleas from the management of Mixer. As a matter of fact, Facebook Gaming has offered each migrating partner a $2500 signing bonus, but this has not swayed the convictions of most of these partners who are hell-bent on leaving.
How do you feel about the sudden shutdown of Mixer? Let us know in the comment section below.
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