Mixer Bows Out, Microsoft Teams w/ Facebook Gaming
Microsoft is pulling the plug on gaming live streaming platform Mixer, with the company opting to partner up with Facebook Gaming moving forward.
The platform will shut down on July 22, and had sought to take on top-tier platforms such as Twitch and YouTube by signing key streamers streaming like Tyler “Ninja” Blevins and Michael “Shroud” Grzesiek to big deals. Both names are now eligible to take their talents to any other platforms. However, streamers using the Mixer monetization program will now be eligible for the Facebook Level Up program.
“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,” Mixer said in a blog post. “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.”
Facebook Gaming will assume the rights to the Mixer trademarks and associated domain names, but Microsoft will retain the intellectual property rights to the Mixer technology. Microsoft now will work with Facebook as it prepares its xCloud game streaming service, which previously was scheduled for later this year.
“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,” Microsoft head of gaming Phil Spencer told The Verge.
