Mixer shutting down, Ninja and Shroud opting out of Facebook deal

[LukeSavenije]

Sources: RLewisReports (Twitter), The Verge

 

As reported today, Mixer will shut down it's services because of it's lack of popularity against it's main competitor, Twitch and will move it's users and streamers to Facebook Gaming instead, but give the streamers a choice to opt out of the Facebook deal and receive an estimated payment, which contractors Shroud and Nanja already have offered to take and start talk with a different streaming service again, which is as of right now still unknown. They have likely chosen Facebook Gaming because of their soon-to-launch Xcloud cloud gaming service, which'll be Stadia's and Geforce Now's main competitors.

 

around the current transition to Facebook Gaming:

Quote

Microsoft is partnering with Facebook to transition existing Mixer viewers and streamers over to Facebook Gaming in the coming weeks. On July 22nd, all Mixer sites and apps will automatically redirect to Facebook Gaming. Existing Mixer Partners will be granted partner status with Facebook Gaming, and any streamers using the Mixer monetization program will be granted eligibility for Facebook’s Level Up program. Mixer viewers with outstanding Ember balances, channel subscriptions, or Mixer Pro subscriptions will receive Xbox gift card credit.

 

around the choice for Facebook gaming

Quote

Microsoft’s choice to partner with Facebook is clearly a strategic one that’s also related to broadening the appeal of its upcoming xCloud game streaming service and its overall gaming efforts. Microsoft will work closely with Facebook to bring xCloud to Facebook Gaming, allowing viewers to click and immediately play games that people are streaming. It’s a vision that’s very similar to Google’s ambitions with Stadia, but Mixer has lacked the scale and viewership to truly deliver this more broadly. Microsoft recruited exclusive streamers like Ninja and Shroud with big deals, but they haven’t been enough to get more people using the service over rivals. Ninja, Shroud, and other top streamers are now free to rejoin Twitch or stream on Facebook Gaming.

 

Around Shroud/Ninja

Quote

Sources familiar with the deal have informed me that while Facebook did try and negotiate to keep their big partners both Shroud and Ninja opted out. They have received their full payments and as of midnight yesterday were free to engage in talks with other platforms. Game on.

 

It's sad how this from one side gives a lot more possible market share back to Twitch, putting them in a close to Monopoly point in their market, but could mean bigger things for Facebook gaming. Only time will tell how good of a move this was, or if Microsoft should've invested more into mixer.

[Haro]

Now's twitch is laughing 

Lmao

[LukeSavenije]

1 minute ago, TofuHaroto said:

Now's twitch is laughing

Microsoft:

[Nowak]

"Mixer is better than Twitch!" Not anymore :^3

[gloop]

I still think YT will eventually take over the streaming scene, but twitch will remain king for the next few years.

 

however, I still dislike twitch's moderating and double standards.

[Haro]

Just now, LukeSavenije said:

Microsoft:

-snip-

No that money is gone 

They gave it to ninja remember lol

[spartaman64]

I don't blame ninja and shroud I heard some good things about mixer like better quality while Facebook gaming is basically just inferior in every way to twitch 

[Jae Tee]

1 minute ago, spartaman64 said:

I don't blame ninja and shroud I heard some good things about mixer like better quality while Facebook gaming is basically just inferior in every way to twitch 

Also facebook is facebook.

[sinkesnnj]

Tbh not surprised, was on Mixer the other day and almost every streamer was sub 1k viewers. Problem with this big companies is that they don't have the patience to build up a platform like this, they dump millions of $ and expect instant growth. But it takes time for consumers to catch up...

Big move now would be for YT to pick up Ninja and Shroud, YT has an actual chance to take down Twitch...

[Taf the Ghost]

Just now, spartaman64 said:

I don't blame ninja and shroud I heard some good things about mixer like better quality while Facebook gaming is basically just inferior in every way to twitch 

Mixer is a classic 2nd-gen product that might be better than the 1st-gen, but not better enough to win over enough to sustain itself. Twitch also has its Strategic Thot Economy as a backbone.

[Taf the Ghost]

Just now, sinkesnnj said:

Tbh not surprised, was on Mixer the other day and almost every streamer was sub 1k viewers. Problem with this big companies is that they don't have the patience to build up a platform like this, they dump millions of $ and expect instant growth. But it takes time for consumers to catch up...

Big move now would be for YT to pick up Ninja and Shroud, YT has an actual chance to take down Twitch...

If YT is smart, they would. But YT making livestreams hard to find. They basically need a separate interface.

[Catsrules]

Well that sucks, one less platform people can be on. Well that just leaves Amazon, Facebook and Google.

[Origami Cactus]

Well, that was surprisingly quick

[Brooksie359]

23 minutes ago, gloop said:

I still think YT will eventually take over the streaming scene, but twitch will remain king for the next few years.

 

however, I still dislike twitch's moderating and double standards.

I don't think so. Twitch has alot of things that YouTube doesn't have. Especially most streamers are on twitch and not on YouTube so it's hard to use YouTube if you're favorite streamer is on twitch. And even if a big streamer switches often times the streamer doesn't retain its viewer because alot aren't will to switch. It's a risky move to switch platforms so alot of streamers won't take it. Also twitch has it's own culture of sorts with their emotes that makes YouTube just feel less engaging in comparison. And YouTube has had issues when I have tried to watch bigger streams where it was so pixelated that it was unwatchable. I have never had that issue on twitch. I would not bet against Amazon tbh. 

[suicidalfranco]

1 minute ago, Taf the Ghost said:

If YT is smart, they would. But YT making livestreams hard to find. They basically need a separate interface.

didn't they try that with Youtube Gaming, now canned?

[Taf the Ghost]

1 minute ago, suicidalfranco said:

didn't they try that with Youtube Gaming, now canned?

Probably, but they basically canned that before anyone heard of it. A classic problem with Google.

[TetraSky]

Damn they made bank on Mixer and they are now free to go back to Twitch

[BobVonBob]

1 minute ago, TetraSky said:

Damn they made bank on Mixer and they are now free to go back to Twitch

Sort of. They made a lot of money with the Mixer contracts, but in doing so they alienated their former viewer base, which they now have to try to return to. I have no doubts that they'll still be big names, but I don't think they'll be as big as they were before the switch, or at least not for a while.

[Commodus]

It feels like Mixer became the quintessential Microsoft-wants-to-be-cool product (see also Zune, Windows Phone).  It's a bit better in some areas than the Actually Cool Thing, but not so hot in others... and there's that whiff of Microsoft's overriding corporate vibe that spooks people away.  Twitch is where the cool kids hang out; Mixer is where you go because your parents will only let you play on the Xbox.

[AlexGoesHigh]

 

Both of them right now.

 

 

30 minutes ago, spartaman64 said:

I don't blame ninja and shroud I heard some good things about mixer like better quality while Facebook gaming is basically just inferior in every way to twitch 

Mixer video quality was definitely the best, i'm gonna miss that, stuff looked so crisp even against 1080p youtube videos.

[Kisai]

37 minutes ago, spartaman64 said:

I don't blame ninja and shroud I heard some good things about mixer like better quality while Facebook gaming is basically just inferior in every way to twitch 

Mixer was actually a superior "experience" compared to twitch or youtube... at least for watching and group-participation. However Microsoft's lack of commitment to things is nearly as bad as Google's and as such people were not willing to go exclusive on Mixer since that's not where the audience is. 

 

For my art clients I actually set up a three-way relay for Twitch, Youtube and Mixer so that the streamers wouldn't have to burn that bandwidth and CPU resources themselves, but ultimately the audience was on Twitch. So if Microsoft is shutting Mixer down, and dropping it on Facebook, I'm just going to cut mixer out of the setup. 

 

I had not even heard of Mixer until that Ninja person switched to it, but at the same time, I didn't know who Ninja was, I just was made aware of it. Most artists I know either 

a) Use Twitch if they are streaming drawing and sometimes gaming

or

b) Use Picarto if they are streaming drawing that might be NSFW'ish.

 

After this recent round of DMCA's to Twitch, just about everyone is afraid to use Twitch like they were using it before, and it's kinda like "You know people are not coming to art streams to listen to your music right?"

 

[Touch My Hamm]

To me it appears that alot of companies do not understand what makes X great and they just throw money into marketing and execs who say they know what to do. We can look at Mixer. It started out VERY late to the game. Twitch already being integrated into games for rewards and coming with Amazon Prime incentives. They should have put this into consideration instead of just trying to get every major streamer onto the platform. They need to build events for the platform and build new stars but nothing happened.

 

We can look at other times Microsoft has come to the table then fading out quickly. Didnt they have phones before? They also have a launcher for android now? They also had a phone that was part of some social network stint... There are more but I will keep it short.

 

I am not saying these are the sole issues but when I look at a site like twitch that is something that would drive me and others.

I can imagine the big paid streamers crying with their $100 bills as they could retire anytime. But this will be a huge hit to their viewers. Since the ones being paid to leave might not be welcomed back onto Twitch LOL. Which sucks since I personally hate twitch...

[spartaman64]

2 minutes ago, GodSeph said:

To me it appears that alot of companies do not understand what makes X great and they just throw money into marketing and execs who say they know what to do. We can look at Mixer. It started out VERY late to the game. Twitch already being integrated into games for rewards and coming with Amazon Prime incentives. They should have put this into consideration instead of just trying to get every major streamer onto the platform. They need to build events for the platform and build new stars but nothing happened.

yeah i watch one person on facebook gaming after he moved over from twitch and it feels so limited. theres no custom emotes so i just use the twitch words for the emotes. theres apparently some kind of bits system called stars or something but on twitch when you donate bits it appears on screen with an animation and sometimes streamers put a bits cup and on facebook gaming it just a small icon in the chat. also the layout is terrible

[Kisai]

3 minutes ago, GodSeph said:

 

I am not saying these are the sole issues but when I look at a site like twitch that is something that would drive me and others.
 

The problem is a lot of "competition" are funded by vulture capital companies. So you get people who have a cool project, some jerkass who sees how they can sell it to the venture capital company, so they get their claws into the company and then say "hey (big company) wants to invest, let's sell to them" and they cut themselves a nice check and then leave. Then the people who started the project get disillusioned with what the big company wants to do with it, and seek an exit strategy. 

 

You can see this going back to eBay, PayPal, Google itself (as the big company), Microsoft (as the big company), IBM (as the big company), and so forth. If your goal is not to be acquired by Google , Apple, Microsoft, IBM or IBM-like companies, then you will instead be crushed by them stealing your idea out from under you.

 

Sometimes that happens, sometimes you live long enough to establish the brand loyalty to fend off the low-quality knockoffs of your services. But ultimately Google and Microsoft would rather drown metaphorical baby projects than support anything them until they can walk by themselves. These companies should be spinning off their "failures" for other companies to take a swing at instead of killing them off and someone else having to re-invent the wheel.

[TetraSky]

1 hour ago, BobVonBob said:

but in doing so they alienated their former viewer base

You'd think that. But when DisguisedToast (another streamer who was paid by facebook to move there), came back for a one off video on Twitch after months on FB, he got 20k+ viewers before even starting the stream.

 

Because it's not like their Twitch channels were deleted, as such anyone who didn't go out of their way to Unfollow them, will still get the notifications when they go live.

 

I fully expect them to go back to their previous size without much issues.