Microsoft teams up with Facebook as video game streaming service Mixer shuts down
- After top streamers told Microsoft they weren’t making enough money on the service, the software maker will recommend players use Facebook Gaming instead
- Microsoft also plans to work with Facebook on xCloud, which will allow gamers to click within a stream on Facebook to play or purchase a video game
Microsoft’s Xbox unit will shut down Mixer, its video game streaming service, after failing to attract a large global user base. Instead, it will recommend players and audiences shift to Facebook’s streaming site.
Mixer’s stars, including Ninja and Michael “Shroud” Grzesiek, are under no obligation to join Facebook Gaming. It was these top streamers who contributed to Microsoft’s realisation that Mixer wasn’t working – some of them told the company they weren’t making enough money on the service, according to Xbox chief Phil Spencer this week.
“While we were proud of the community that we had built on Mixer, we weren’t achieving the scale goals that we had on our own,” he said, explaining the team decided earlier this year to exit the business and instead look for a partner.