Microsoft is closing Mixer — what went wrong?

Source: Matt Chocolate-brown / Windows Fundamental

Microsoft's answer to the live streaming nail has been a journey of highs and lows, just it's soon the end of the road for Mixer. The virtual abode to many of gaming's acme online personalities, streaming continues to witness explosive growth. While the Mixer platform has become an established dissemination brand, it failed to dent the three dominant players. That brings united states of america to Microsoft embarking to drift users over to Facebook Gaming, shuttering Mixer after four years.

The bleak futurity for Mixer isn't surprising, post-obit stories of missteps and unrealized potential. But that wasn't e'er the case, with promising propositions in Mixer's early on iterations. Only with a cursory look back, the writing was on the wall.

The cease of the road for Mixer

Mixer Homepage While Mixer mindshare recently hit an best high, reports propose troubling viewer numbers. Source: Windows Central

Microsoft boarded the live-streaming railroad train in mid-2016, known under its old alias, Beam. The move saw Redmond adopt the independent venture from Matt Salsamendi and James Boehm, eighteen- and 20-years-old as of acquisition, looking to calibration its response to streaming. The focus on interactivity and community established a unique hook for the platform, which connected to grow in tandem with new features, under the Mixer rebrand.

Mixer's initial promise came from underlying technologies, including the low-latency "faster than light (FTL)" stream protocol, reducing the filibuster between creators and their viewers. The sub-2d broadcasts closed the gap for audiences, fostering more profound engagement, and opening doors for real-time connections. Viewers could impact the game, multiple streamers could chain synchronized video feeds through "co-streams," and hosts could even well-nigh "pass" the controller to Mixer users. That community-focused sentiment would help shape Mixer's lasting identity, even if oft-overlooked by Microsoft.

While Amazon-owned Twitch and YouTube's alive features garnered their respective followings, no one had their pes in gaming like Microsoft. The service naturally linked to Microsoft'due south broader Xbox ambitions, filtering down to its Xbox I panel family and Windows ten PCs. Partners could also earn a commission for selling Xbox One games or Xbox Game Laissez passer subscriptions via their Mixer aqueduct.

Ninja Joins Mixer Microsoft disrupted the streaming mural in 2022, locking down Tyler "Ninja" Blevins to the Mixer platform. Source: Ninja on YouTube

Backing from Microsoft finally put the platform on the radar — at 1 point considered a tangible threat to Twitch. That came with several high-profile successes, nearly famously with a string of talent conquering. Microsoft locked down Tyler "Ninja" Blevins post-obit a sudden ascent to fame, later tailed past established names like Shroud and Gothalion. The reported multi-million dollar deals disrupted the mural in an unprecedented way, afterward mirrored past other platforms keeping their prominent faces in-house.

Building platforms within a crowded space is never easy, making it reasonable to ask why Microsoft bothered with Mixer in the offset place. But the streaming world has become increasingly lucrative over the concluding decade, with viewership continually on the up, and gaming industry actors looking to secure their share of that growth. Games and content creation are closer than ever, and the value merely increases every bit endeavors like Project xCloud hit the scene.

Unrealized potential, internal struggles, and tearing contest

Source: Mixer

While Microsoft appeared to exist pouring funds into Mixer, Redmond's rail tape proved that information technology didn't guarantee the platform's future.

Mixer's problems weren't but outward-facing, with reports of discrimination and low morale nether late leadership.

Problems at Mixer weren't just outward-facing, with reports of low morale among the team before this year. That followed with the departure of founders Salsamendi and Boehm, resulting in a "skeleton" team, increasingly detached from Xbox operations. A leaked Mixer Town Hall video provides a glimpse into late leadership, with Mixer caput Shilpa Yadla downplaying internal frustrations among staff.

One one-time Mixer employee recently voiced their personal encounters with racism among leadership, prompting executive vice-president of Gaming at Microsoft, Phil Spencer, to publicly respond. That's been followed past a wave of harassment and discrimination allegations amid acme streamers with no known repercussions from Mixer — but days prior to the announcement of its closure. While still a developing situation, it'due south non the first report of internal issues amidst Mixer's remaining team.

Chart showing flat Mixer growth Source: Stream Elements

The streaming landscape is stronger than ever, with its latest uptick reflecting the ongoing pandemic, enforcing stay-at-home orders beyond the globe. But for Mixer, this was likely the final shot. A recent written report from StreamElements surveyed tiptop video game streaming platforms, spotlighting triple-figure twelvemonth-over-year growth from Twitch and Facebook Gaming. In contrast, Microsoft'due south Mixer was apartment with underwhelming 0.2 pct growth, seemingly struggling to retain its users.

StreamLabs' respective findings land that last quarter, more users were streaming on Mixer than Facebook Gaming and YouTube Gaming combined. It too had more hours streamed than rivals, simply topped by Twitch, suggesting that content output wasn't behind its downfall. Mixer was the home for streamers — but without an audience to watch.

Even with Ninja'southward debut Mixer stream clocking over 90,000 concurrent viewers, propelling its iOS app to the top of Apple tree's App Shop, it was a short-lived blip, rather than a long-term gain.

Mixer was the home for streamers — but without an audience to watch.

As Mixer looked to expand, new bug arose for Microsoft'due south live-streaming destination. The low-latency FTL protocol, previously a defining characteristic of Mixer's backend, was muted by reduced broadcast delays from Twitch and YouTube. Rivals replicated a majority of the best traits, while it wrangled fragmented features between platforms and weak localization beyond U.South. audiences.

That'south without touching on missed opportunities, especially regarding its ties to Xbox services and subscriptions. Amazon's Twitch Prime serves sectional game rewards, which Microsoft replicated via Xbox Game Pass, over the Mixer Pro subscription. Xbox Game Laissez passer and Mixer Pro besides failed to nail down a relationship, with a gratuitous subscription under the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate tier a no-brainer during the height of Mixer's success.

With Microsoft backing down from the streaming scene, it leaves Twitch as the undisputed champion, and YouTube and Facebook witnessing like growth. Microsoft will aid Facebook in bolstering its video game streaming solutions, helping migrate Mixer Partners to the platform, and teasing time to come Project xCloud integration.

But for now, Mixer is yet some other casualty amidst Microsoft's service experiments. Missteps, both consumer-facing and internal, ultimately led to the platform'due south demise — while too failing to resonate in the competitive streaming field.

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