Microsoft Shuts Down Mixer, Partners With Facebook Gaming
Microsoft closes its struggling live-streaming platform Mixer and redirects users to Facebook Gaming. The partnership also integrates Microsoft's xCloud game-streaming service directly into Facebook's platform.
Microsoft shuts down its Twitch competitor Mixer on July 22 and partners with Facebook to push its users toward Facebook Gaming. The sudden closure comes after Microsoft pours considerable resources into the platform, acquiring exclusive streaming rights to top esports personalities like Ninja and Shroud. Despite these expensive efforts, Microsoft fails to spend its way into meaningful competition against the dominant duopoly of Amazon's Twitch and Alphabet's YouTube Gaming.
Under the new partnership, Microsoft transitions its existing streamer partnerships to Facebook Gaming and redirects all Mixer traffic to the social network's gaming hub. The collaboration goes beyond simple viewership by integrating Microsoft's xCloud game-streaming technology directly into Facebook Gaming, allowing users to instantly play titles they see in streams. High-profile streamers like Ninja are not forced to migrate to Facebook and are free to rejoin Twitch if they choose.
Microsoft gaming chief Phil Spencer attributes the shutdown to Mixer's inability to close the massive gap in monthly active viewers compared to industry leaders. SensorTower data reveals that Mixer app downloads drop 23 percent in 2020 compared to the same period in 2019, totaling just 3.4 million downloads year-to-date. Microsoft strategically announces this high-profile closure during Apple's WWDC keynote to minimize public attention on the service's failure.