Microsoft is Shutting Down Mixer

Microsoft is making a big move in the gaming space and is shutting down Mixer. The streaming platform that Microsoft hoped would take on Twitch will be ending operating in late July.

This is a big step for Microsoft, the company tried to revamp the strategy last year by signing big names like Ninja and Shroud but the strategy did not work out. The company is closing the service July 22nd and will let Shroud and Ninja return to Twitch.

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The company is also partnering with Facebook Gaming to help those who have built a following on Mixer move to a new platform. Microsoft’s goal is to reach the largest possible audience with its platform and it looks like Mixer was holding back Xbox and likely xCloud.

How so? Well, it gets a bit awkward if you try to push xCloud to every streaming platform while also trying to make your own service, like Mixer, a success. With Mixer out of the way, Xbox can finally include deep integration into all streaming platforms without the awkward whispers behind the scenes about Mixer being not the priority.

Seeing as Microsoft’s fiscal year comes to an end on June 30th, it’s clear that this shutdown is related to the new fiscal year starting July 1st.

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Conversation 31 comments

  • SRLRacing

    22 June, 2020 - 3:02 pm

    <p>As with so many things Microsoft does there was a lot to love about Mixer but the internet desires monopolies and Twitch is it. Mixer never stood a chance when YouTube and Facebook have struggled to gain any real traction</p>

  • olditpro2000

    Premium Member
    22 June, 2020 - 3:14 pm

    <p>Apparently they are moving Mixer partners over to Facebook Gaming. I guess they had no where else to put them – Stadia has YouTube and Twitch is owned by Amazon, so…(shrug). I just know many people who will avoid *anything* Facebook.</p>

  • jaredthegeek

    Premium Member
    22 June, 2020 - 3:26 pm

    <p>Are they in competition with Google for who can shut down more services?</p>

  • ser barristan

    Premium Member
    22 June, 2020 - 3:28 pm

    <p>I liked Mixer and how easy it was to just access from the dashboard whenever I wanted. I figured it would not catch on in popularity but it met my limited needs. I did have a few streams I enjoyed and still have a Twitch account.</p>

  • brothernod

    Premium Member
    22 June, 2020 - 3:55 pm

    <p>So when do we get to find out how much this failure cost? I'm sure they offered lucrative contracts to woo those big name streamers.</p>

  • martinusv2

    Premium Member
    22 June, 2020 - 4:07 pm

    <p>We have predicted that when it started.</p>

  • jonsimon

    Premium Member
    22 June, 2020 - 4:44 pm

    <p>It was just a matter of time. Ninja's people didn't follow in the numbers they hoped…in fact it was far less than expected by even the most optimistic estimates. </p><p><br></p><p>Initial reviews were hesitant to make any predictions.</p><p><br></p><p>I am not a game streamer and never watch any but we do live streaming and found the restrictions to be able to stream the first time to be way too onerous so we have stuck to YouTube and Facebook which are much more friendly to small non-commercial streamers.</p>

  • navarac

    22 June, 2020 - 4:46 pm

    <p>Another Microsoft Flash-in-the-pan "experience" being killed off. Again, no staying power, or more like rubbish starts of stuff. Sorry you've lost me – no way will I get involved in Facebook – that's worse than Google.</p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      23 June, 2020 - 7:33 am

      Yep. This is disappointing.

  • Mark from CO

    22 June, 2020 - 4:57 pm

    <p>Brad:</p><p><br></p><p>I'm not in the loop, so your insight would be helpful. I can't figure out why Microsoft is still in the gaming business. Seems to me this is WP version 2.0. You are #2 in the market, not that far away from #3. (Yes, WP was clearly #3). You couldn't make a profit in hardware. It is a consumer play, not in the company's wheelhouse. You exited WP, but are still in gaming.</p><p><br></p><p>I understand that you hope to have successful cloud play. But what makes you believe it will be one of the leaders? The biggest phone platform already has a marker in this business. The #2 phone platform is gearing up for a play (which one has to assume will be successful due to its fanatical customer base). And this is not to mention the biggest gaming hardware company will be entering the same market very soon. All have significant competitive advantages over Microsoft. And this ignores the fact that the biggest online retailer (Amazon) is also gearing up and has a play through Prime that Microsoft shouldn't underestimate. I just don't see how Microsoft navigates through this competitive maze and becomes the #1 or #2 player. (Tech history tells us that generally only the #1 or #2 market players reap outsize profits.) Microsoft's recent history in this type of endeavor does not give one any cause for optimism. </p>

    • olditpro2000

      Premium Member
      22 June, 2020 - 7:42 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#548011">In reply to Mark from CO:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>I have the same question. I expected them to bail out on Xbox long ago.</p><p><br></p><p>Edit: We can ask the same question about Surface I suppose. I feel like both of these lines could do with some investment. It would be cool to have a Surface desktop machine in a similar design language as the Xbox Series X, for example.</p>

    • gregsedwards

      Premium Member
      23 June, 2020 - 2:09 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#548011">In reply to Mark from CO:</a></em></blockquote><p>Simple. The money is in the infrastructure required to host massive game streaming services like ProJect xCloud and others. And not many companies could do that.</p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      23 June, 2020 - 7:33 am

      They’re in the gaming business because the future of this business is cloud services. But they can’t jump from point A to point C, so they’re doing interim consoles until it’s all cloud.

      • olditpro2000

        Premium Member
        23 June, 2020 - 12:41 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#548323">In reply to paul-thurrott:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>They've been in this business for 20 years now. I half expected them to bail out after the 360, but I suppose they saw enough value to continue at that point. Maybe they even had xCloud ambitions back then.</p>

        • Paul Thurrott

          Premium Member
          24 June, 2020 - 7:18 am

          It’s been nothing but a solid loss every single year. I’m curious why Microsoft keeps it going, though I do love how the business has evolved in the past few years.

  • Vladimir Carli

    Premium Member
    22 June, 2020 - 5:00 pm

    <p>I wonder for what reason they should help transition users to facebook… that's really beyond me. Does it mean that xbox will have built in streaming to facebook?</p>

    • dbonds

      Premium Member
      24 June, 2020 - 12:50 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#548013">In reply to Vladimir:</a></em></blockquote><p> </p><p>Well, twitch is owned by amazon. Youtube is owned by google. </p><p><br></p><p>Only other "major gaming video stream" service might be "Facebook gaming" (although I've personally never heard of it). MSFT likely went with whomever provided the least risk of competition in the gaming space.</p>

  • madthinus

    Premium Member
    22 June, 2020 - 5:03 pm

    <p>Removing that pin from my dashboard. Don’t want Facebook </p>

  • jlv632

    22 June, 2020 - 7:01 pm

    <p>One down.. One more to go. </p><p><br></p><p>Taking a stab that Movies and TV will be shut down June 30th 2021. Let's just hope it moves to Apple and not Google. </p>

    • olditpro2000

      Premium Member
      22 June, 2020 - 7:42 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#548062">In reply to jlv632:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>They may keep Movies and TV around so Xbox owners can rent/buy movies.</p>

      • Paul Thurrott

        Premium Member
        23 June, 2020 - 7:24 am

        Surely there are many ways to do that.

        Also, using an Xbox for that is really inefficient.

      • jlv632

        23 June, 2020 - 10:02 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#548087">In reply to OldITPro2000:</a></em></blockquote><p>I don't see it. Too many other players with far better offers in the market. Sorry to hijack this Mixer article but Movies Anywhere isn't outside of the US and all my past Microsoft purchases are HD and not in 4K. Sorry but it's abysmal and the fact it never got iOS or Android support.. It never stood a chance </p>

    • Thretosix

      24 June, 2020 - 9:13 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#548062">In reply to jlv632:</a></em></blockquote><p>The way I see this is anyone who's bought into the Movie and TV would likely pack their bags and run from Microsoft. While it may be inefficient doing this would really be shooting themselves in the foot. Nothing like this happens from cutting Mixer other than people earning achievements by using it.</p>

  • kjb434

    Premium Member
    22 June, 2020 - 9:40 pm

    <p>Finally, Xbox announcements for whenever E3 comes back will be on Twitch. I won't have to suffer the Mixer interface.</p>

  • coeus89

    22 June, 2020 - 11:02 pm

    <p>This is a real bummer. I really liked mixer. Reliable and fast and it seemed (subjectively) like the people in comments were much more civil. </p>

  • Yzencee

    23 June, 2020 - 6:21 am

    <p>Such a disappointment. Had high hopes for Mixer. I think that the Mixer childlike interface sank it.</p>

  • madthinus

    Premium Member
    23 June, 2020 - 6:25 am

    <p>Mixer internationally has never been fantastic. The Microsoft Mixer stream was always of lesser quality than YouTube. This stuff is hard to do, and if you are not prepared to do it whole hog, then it is better to just exit. I hate the Facebook part. I hope they will not leave it integrated in the dashboard like Mixer is now? </p>

  • red77star

    23 June, 2020 - 8:23 am

    <p>4 years ago I said it is DOA and I was right, of course people didn't see what I saw. If you are investing yourself into any Microsoft platform think twice.</p>

  • Stooks

    23 June, 2020 - 11:59 am

    <p>I predict that the next generation of Xbox console hardware is its last. xCloud and roll you own hardware is the subscription future where Microsoft wants to be.</p>

    • Thretosix

      24 June, 2020 - 9:07 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#548432">In reply to Stooks:</a></em></blockquote><p>That's quite a bold claim. The console market brings the cost down. Some people don't want to build a high end computer to play the latest games even if it means not playing the game "maxed out", while still achieving a pretty high level of detail. I don't remember where I've read it but they've stated they plan to continue building consoles going forward. There will likely be a mid cycle upgrade just like the One X and PS4 Pro for this generation as well. One of the big pushes of the Series X is ensuring a particular level of performance for gamers on their platform. Microsoft isn't going to put all their faith into everyone's ability to build a PC to achieve this and keep the level of performance expected to run their latest games.</p>

  • Winner

    23 June, 2020 - 2:46 pm

    <p>As long as people don't complain about Google shutting things down any longer.</p>

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