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    Microsoft shutting down streaming platform, partners with Facebook Gaming

    TechnologyGamingMicrosoft shutting down streaming platform, partners with Facebook Gaming

    After years of competing against Amazon’s streaming giant Twitch, Microsoft is finally pulling the plug on its streaming platform Mixer, citing an inability to achieve the scale they wanted.

    The news came on June 23, via the platform’s social media accounts. In a blog post, the Mixer team noted, “It became clear that the time needed to grow our own live streaming 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.”

    As part of shutting down, the Mixer team announced that they have partnered with Facebook and will be helping their community transition to Facebook’s gaming platform. The move is also part of the “broader effort Xbox and Facebook Gaming are embarking on.”

    “The Facebook Gaming team and Creators will help expand the vision that Mixer has always held around community and building a platform that is inclusive and supportive of each other. For Mixer’s streamers, this opens up the opportunity to reach the vast audience of one of the world’s fastest growing streaming platforms. Every month, more than 700 million people play a game, watch a gaming video or interact in a gaming Group on Facebook. For Facebook Gaming’s Creators, this brings the ability to partner closely with the Xbox ecosystem, including future opportunities around Xbox Game Pass, Project xCloud and more,” the blog post read.

    Mixer’s partner content creators will be granted partner status on Facebook Gaming with the platform honoring and matching all existing Partner agreements as closely as possible and those in Mixer’s open monetization program will be eligible for the Facebook Gaming Level Up Program so they can still grow and monetize their streams.

    Mixer viewers who still have Mixer Ember Balances, channel subscriptions, or Mixer Pro subscriptions will be given Xbox Gift Card credits as thanks for their engagement in the platform. The Mixer website will be up until July 22, 2020; afterward, viewers and visitors to Mixer.com will be redirected to fb.gg.  

    Mixer took headlines last year when they signed multi-million exclusive streaming rights to two of Twitch’s largest streamers Tyler “Ninja” Blevins and Michael “Shroud” Grzesiek. As of this writing, the two streamers have announced that they are still thinking about their next moves with reports saying the two have declined Facebook’s offers.  

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