By
Godfrey Benjamin
April 18th, 2024
Microsoft will shut down its Mixer platform for a partnership with Facebook Gaming. The two companies will take advantage of Microsoft’s xCloud.
After struggling to gain a firm position in the video game market, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) is abandoning its video game streaming service. Microsoft has announced that it will shut down the “Mixer” service, encouraging patrons to move over to Facebook Gaming.
According to Microsoft, Mixer will be taken offline a month from now, on July 22nd. To encourage the transition to Facebook ‘s rival offering, the Mixer website will redirect to Facebook Gaming.
In an official blog post, Microsoft’s executive vice president in charge of gaming Phil Spencer explains the reason for the closure. According to him, the effort required to scale Mixer no longer tallies with the company’s current gaming interests and offerings:
“Ultimately, the success of Partners and streamers on Mixer is dependent on our ability to scale the service 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 we want to deliver to gamers now, so we’ve decided to close the operations side of Mixer and help the community transition to a new platform.”
The blog post also suggests that Microsoft is discontinuing Mixer to pay more attention to Xbox. The company also looks not just to develop the Xbox, but also to better develop its Project xCloud platform. Spencer specifies that Microsoft plans to fine-tune a meeting point between xCloud and Xbox Live. Microsoft had earlier announced plans for xCloud back in November 2019.
Back in 2016, Microsoft purchased live streaming video game platform – Beam – for an undisclosed amount. Beam became Mixer about a year later but has struggled to hold steady in the video game livestreaming industry.
Integrating Microsoft with Facebook Gaming
Microsoft may have finalized the decision to abandon Mixer because of the platform’s recent performance during the coronavirus lockdown. The lockdown caused increased patronage of rival platforms such as Amazon’s Twitch. However, Mixer did not enjoy the same fate.
The partnership between Microsoft and Facebook Inc (NASDAQ: FB) could however prove advantageous for both companies. In a recent blog post, Facebook Gaming chief Vivek Sharma has described the benefits of the synergy between both platforms:
“As part of our work together, Project xCloud will help us redefine future gaming experiences on Facebook Gaming. Imagine a scenario where people can instantly move from watching a Facebook Gaming creator’s livestream to jumping in and playing the game with their closest friends, all in one click … Our work with Xbox will help bring those experiences closer together, and we can’t wait to show you what we have in the works.”
Microsoft plans to release a new version of its Xbox console later this year. Dubbed the “Xbox Series X”, the new platform boasts of better speed, powered by AMD new microarchitecture.
As usual, fans have already begun pitting the Xbox Series X against Sony’s PlayStation 5, also scheduled for release later this year.
Meanwhile, MSFT stock is 1.45% up, at $203.48 and FB stock is 2.03% up, at $244.07.