The Mixer case: not even millions of dollars saved him - editorial
Mixer was Microsoft's late attempt to enter a sector, the streaming dedicated to gamers, growing fast. After a slow start, which started in mid 2017, the Redmond house opted for a sharp acceleration in 2019 and spent about 20-30 million dollars (a figure never confirmed) to exclusively bring Tyler "Ninja" Blevins on Mixer. A few months later another heavyweight moved to Mixer: Michael "Shroud" Grzesiek. Less than a year after the debut of the world's most famous streamer on the Microsoft platform, however, we are here to sing the last song.
For Microsoft it is a scenario already seen: between iOS and Android, the third uncomfortable was Windows Phone (which despite the features of Windows Mobile, had made the first and uncertain steps in the world of telephony move). And once again Microsoft found itself between two giants, until it found the inevitable: there was no room for her, at least here (fortunately it did not happen the same with the Xbox brand, which is living alongside Nintendo and PlayStation for almost twenty years).
The asset and the partners of the Mixer will pass in the hands of Facebook Gaming. What a lesson is there to learn? Money, alone, do not seal the success. And influencers, obviously, are not sufficient to create a true community without a real project. Microsoft has entrusted to Ninja and Shroud the charging of the Mixer, hoping that it would be enough for a last push of a metaphorical marathon runner, but was now spompo after being chased for the entire race.
Originally known as the Beam and was acquired by Microsoft in 2016, the Mixer arrived in delay compared to Twitch and YouTube, and has not introduced anything new. At that point, because users continued to be disinterested, has invested in a couple of influencers of weight, with the hope that attirassero thousands of followers, and begin a virtuous path. It was not so.
Spencer, a practical man, he wrote it clearly. "It has become clear that the time needed to grow a our community of streaming was inconsistent with our vision and experiences that we want to offer to the players now, so we decided to close the operations of the Mixer and help the community to pass on a new platform". The focus of the Xbox will be the Project xCloud, the streaming service, and Series X: there was no space for the Mixer and, above all, for the commitment and resources that a project of this kind.
The passing of Tyler 'Ninja' Blevins to the Mixer is the cost to Microsoft is between 20 and 30 million dollars. The figure has never been confirmed by the manufacturer or by the individual. Not even the quarantine, in fact, has accelerated the growth of the Mixer, while Twitch, YouTube, and Facebook Gaming have registered growths very consistent on an annual basis (data Stream Elements). Which, perhaps, has made you understand to Microsoft that there was no more margin of manoeuvre, or, as far as we know, the negotiations with Facebook had already advanced the last April. The baton now passes to Facebook Gaming, which Microsoft has handed over the Mixer and its partners.
it is Difficult to say how they will move the main creators of content. Blevins, following the announcement, he wrote on Twitter that it would assess to do. Shroud pointed out that "I'm thinking about the next steps". Facebook has a considerable firepower, being able to rely on the exposure of a social network that has more than 2.6 billion people are active on a monthly basis, but the transition from one platform to another is not a simple thing.
Microsoft remains the shame of another defeat, but it is better to let go of a dead weight rather than to continue to bring these along, putting on a plate a few tens of millions of dollars and hoping for a miracle.
