Mixer to Shut Down, Microsoft Partners With Facebook Gaming Instead

You can't be the king of everything, it seems. Mixer, Microsoft's take on the live streaming business, is shutting down. Instead, the major corporation will be partnering with Facebook Gaming from here on.

According to Microsoft, operations for the platform will cease next month, with existing Mixer content creators transitioning to Facebook Gaming as soon as today.

Microsoft gaming head Phil Spencer spoke to The Verge about this decision, explaining that Mixer was under performing compared to other services and that merging with Facebook's live stream service was the best for them. Spencer also believes that this will be a good thing for Mixer streamers, as a new wave of potential viewers will become available to them.

Mixer fought an uphill battle its entire life. Originally a separate entity called Beam, it was acquired by Microsoft in 2016 and rebranded as Mixer. By this time, both Twitch.tv and YouTube Gaming had already established a strong foothold in the video game live stream market. They tried to attract more viewership in the following years by signing exclusivity deals with some of the biggest live streamers around, including Fortnite celebrity Tyler "Ninja" Blevins, in 2019.

There have been claims that Mixer partners and streamers also knew nothing of this decision, forcing many of them to make the difficult choice of choosing between converting to Facebook Gaming or starting fresh on other platforms.

Our sympathies go out to everyone that preferred Mixer.