Why is Mixer shutting down to transition its streaming community to Facebook Gaming?

Microsoft is all set to shut down Mixer and move the streamers to Facebook Gaming. The company has recently entered a partnership with Facebook where it will transition its streaming community to Facebook. The strategic partnership is certainly a big one as both Microsoft and Facebook are two of the biggest names in the world of gaming and the alliance could challenge the current industry leader, Twitch, a subsidiary of Amazon.

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Why is Mixer shutting down?

Microsoft is shutting down its video game streaming platform Mixer after its growth failed to meet the company's expectations. The service was originally launched in January 2016 as Beam, however, it was acquired by Microsoft in August, the same year, and renamed Mixer in 2017.

Microsoft bought the service, hoping to attract millions of paid users who would be interested in following live streaming sessions from their favourite streamers participating in e-sports events. And while there has been an ever-increasing growth in online streaming viewership especially during the nationwide lockdowns, Mixer had a hard time leaving the shadow of its market leader Twitch.

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Facebook spokesperson Drew Symonds has stated that Facebook Gaming has the rights to the Mixer trademarks and associated domain names after the new partnership deal, but Microsoft will continue to have the intellectual property rights to the Mixer technology.

When is Mixer shutting down?

Microsoft’s live streaming service Mixer will be shutting down on July 22. Xbox recently announced in a blog post that all Mixer sites and applications will redirect users to Facebook Inc’s Gaming service, starting July 22.

Microsoft, who is all set to release its next-generation Xbox gaming console later this year, has recently confirmed that the company will now focus its attention on developing its XCloud video game streaming service through Azure which can be integrated with Facebook's gaming app.

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Mixer has also announced that the success of Partners and streamers on Mixer will be dependent on the company’s ability to scale the service for them as quickly and broadly as possible. The company added that the time needed to grow the live stream community was actually not measurable and did not match the vision and experiences that Microsoft and Xbox were looking to deliver for its users.

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Image credits: Mixer