Mixer is Shutting Down and Moving to Facebook Gaming
On Monday, June 22, Microsoft announced they were shutting down their livestreaming gaming platform Mixer. Mixer has struggled to compete with Amazon’s Twitch. After four years of lagging behind Youtube and Twitch, Microsoft made a deal with Facebook Gaming to migrate their streamers to the Facebook platform.
“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. 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. To better serve our community’s needs, we’re teaming up with Facebook to enable the Mixer community to transition to Facebook Gaming.”
You can read Mixer’s full statement here. They’ve also published an FAQ for streamers about migrating from Mixer to Facebook Gaming, what happens to their Embers and Sparks, and their partnership status.
This announcement comes after a weekend of #streamertwitter calling out both Twitch and Mixer partners for sexual harassment and sexual assault, using their status and platform as a virtual hunting ground for prey. While Twitch issued a generic statement denouncing sexual harassment and assault Monday, Mixer announced their shutdown.
In August 2019 Streamer Tyler “Ninja” Blevins , who built his community on Twitch, signed exclusive deals with Mixer for between $20 million and $30 million. He’s now out of contract without having to give up his bag. Richard Lewis Reports tweeted inside sources said that Mixer tried to negotiate to keep Ninja, Shroud, and other top partners, but Ninja and Shroud both opted out. It’s unclear whether Ninja or Shroud will return to Twitch or go to Youtube. Both streamers issued statements on Twitter saying they appreciate the Mixer community, but are still figuring out their next move.
Though Mixer’s top partnered streamers were asked to stay, most of Mixer’s streamers were caught off guard by the news. Mixer will continue to be available until July 22, 2020.
