Yesterday Microsoft dropped a huge bomb on Twitter, with just a simple tweet the announcement that Mixer was going dark on July 22. Just short of one more month is all that Mixer has left before the website, and all links will redirect to Facebook Gaming! Mixer as a live streaming platform made big splashes to try and grow, with huge signings of big names Ninja & Shroud. These two names aren’t the majority however, with many content creators finding out about the closure at the same time as everyone else!
Facebook gaming which launched as a platform in 2018, making it the youngest of the major streaming platforms. Seems to have made a huge move! Facebook will now be able to “closely partner with the Xbox ecosystem”. It seems that Facebook, and Microsoft have something planned on together.
The bigger issue most content creators on Mixer are finding is their audience. Many streamers from small to large put in hours and years of time to build communites. The action of redirecting that audience is tough especially when you have a few days short of a month to do so, and along with that is the choice.
Do you go along with Mixer and join Facebook?
Or go to the more well regarded streaming platform Twitch?
Mixers post did say that current partners will get the equivelant deal they have on Facebook. This is a great move, and helps Mixer partners transition over. While Facebook does have an offer on the table for Mixer partners, and is also trying to give smaller content creators an easy transition over. Twitch has made a tweet about the situation, but no offer to accept previous Mixer partners is anywhere that I could find.
While Twitch is a more known and respected platform for streaming, issues have come to the forefront yet again for Twitch. Accusations of all levels have continued to be a pain in Twitch’s side, many people still remember the Alinity cat throwing situation. Twitch does have a large foothold in the streaming community, and is a very feasible option for most. Last but not least many streamers could look to YouTube.
YouTube also has been a destination for larger streamers that have left Twitch, and many have not brought them up in this conversation. Though live streaming isn’t exactly the most done activity on YouTube, the concept of being apart of arguably the largest video content website has to be enticing to some.
Decisions need to be made by many, some easy and some hard. Mixer has pulled the carpet from underneath its creators and left them in difficult spots for all. Moving a community is tough, but these creators that decided to attempt this migration from platform to platform have great courage, and I wish them all the best. We’ll be waiting and ready to see what happens next!
FrankenCulture 