Mixer
From Invertopedia, the encyclopedia of how things fail
Mixer was Microsoft's live-streaming service for games, built from Beam, a startup it bought in 2016[1][2]. In August 2019 it signed Tyler "Ninja" Blevins, the most-followed streamer on Twitch, to stream only on Mixer[3], and in October it signed Michael "Shroud" Grzesiek[4]. Hours watched on Mixer fell in the next quarter, and it ended 2019 with 2.7 percent of the market[4]. On June 22, 2020, Microsoft said it would close Mixer on July 22 and send its streamers to Facebook Gaming[2].
Contents
The bet
Viewers follow stars. If the biggest names in streaming moved to Mixer, their audiences would move with them, and Mixer could close the gap with Twitch. Ninja had 14.7 million followers on Twitch, more than any other creator, and had earned about $500,000 a month there in 2018[3]. Mixer, launched in 2017, had about 20 million monthly active users[3].
Mixer had a product story too. Beam let viewers play along with the streamer, for example by choosing a player's weapons in a shooter[1]. Microsoft believed money and features together could pull a crowd away from the place it already watched.
What happened
| Aug 11, 2016 | Microsoft buys Beam, a streaming startup whose viewers could steer the streamer's game. No terms are disclosed.[1] |
|---|---|
| 2017 | Microsoft turns Beam into Mixer.[2] |
| Aug 1, 2019 | Ninja announces he is leaving Twitch to stream only on Mixer[3]. The terms are not made public.[6] |
| Oct 2019 | Shroud signs with Mixer too.[4] |
| Oct 4, 2019 | StreamElements says Ninja's move "turned out to not be the game changer they probably hoped."[6] |
| Jan 16, 2020 | Fourth-quarter data: hours watched on Mixer fell 8.5 percent from the third quarter, from 90.2 million to 82.5 million. Mixer closed 2019 with 2.7 percent of the market.[4] |
| Jun 22, 2020 | Microsoft announces it will close Mixer and partner with Facebook Gaming.[2] |
| Jul 22, 2020 | Mixer switches off and its sites and apps redirect to Facebook Gaming. Unspent Embers and subscriptions turn into Xbox gift card credit.[5] |
| Sep 10, 2020 | Ninja returns to Twitch on an exclusive multi-year deal.[7] |
The kill shot
Microsoft bought the streamers, not the habit. Their fans kept watching where their friends, chats and routines already were, and hours watched on Mixer fell in the quarter after the big signings.
The signings did what contracts can do: they put more hours of streaming on Mixer. Ninja and Shroud helped more than double the hours streamed there in the third quarter of 2019[4]. But a streaming platform lives on hours watched, and those fell 8.5 percent from the third quarter to the fourth[4]. StreamElements and Arsenal.gg also found that Ninja's success was not lifting other Mixer broadcasters[6].
Phil Spencer, the head of Xbox, said the time it would take to grow Mixer's own community to scale was out of step with Microsoft's plans[2]. Rather than keep paying for a gap that was not closing, Microsoft shut Mixer and pointed its users at a rival[2][5].
Red flags ignored
- Supply, not demand. The star signings raised hours streamed, while hours watched still fell.[4]
- A tiny share. Mixer ended 2019 with 2.7 percent of live hours watched.[4]
- Stars without a scene. Ninja's audience did not spill over to the rest of Mixer's streamers.[6]
- Nothing to move for. Twitch already had the chat, the friends and the other streamers. Following one star to Mixer meant leaving all of that behind.
The cost
Microsoft never said what it spent. It bought Beam for an undisclosed price[1], and Ninja did not share the terms of his deal[6]. Video Games Chronicle described Ninja's contract as a $50 million exclusivity deal and reported that he received a payout in the region of $30 million when Mixer closed, without naming a source[8].
At closing, Mixer partners got double pay for their June earnings, and viewers with Ember balances, channel subscriptions or Mixer Pro got Xbox gift card credit[5].
The inversion
You can buy the talent. You can't buy the audience's habit. Before paying a star to switch, check that their fans would move without being paid, and build the place they would move to first.
What survived
The streamers went back. Ninja returned to Twitch on September 10, 2020, on an exclusive multi-year deal, after reportedly turning down an offer from Facebook Gaming[7][8]. Mixer streamers in its monetization program were given fast-tracked eligibility for Facebook Gaming's Level Up Program[5]. For Microsoft, the Facebook deal offered a wider base for its xCloud game streaming service, according to The Verge[2].
References
- ^ “Microsoft acquires Beam interactive game live streaming service”. TechCrunch, August 11, 2016. Microsoft buys Beam, undisclosed terms, Beam's play-along features.
- ^ “Microsoft Shutting Down Mixer Streaming Platform”. Game Informer, June 22, 2020. Shutdown announcement, July 22 closing, Facebook Gaming partnership, Beam to Mixer history, Phil Spencer's reasoning, xCloud angle.
- ^ “Ninja Ditches Twitch, Will Exclusively Stream On Microsoft's Mixer”. Tubefilter, August 1, 2019. Ninja's move, 14.7 million Twitch followers, about $500,000 a month on Twitch, Mixer's 2017 launch and 20 million monthly users.
- ^ “Twitch's loss of top streamers impacts hours watched and streamed in Q4 2019, report says”. TechCrunch (Sarah Perez), January 16, 2020. Shroud's October 2019 move, hours streamed doubling in Q3, hours watched down 8.5% to 82.5 million in Q4, 2.7% market share.
- ^ “Mixer converting to Facebook Gaming, starting now”. SlashGear, reprinted by IPS News, June 23, 2020. July 22 redirect to Facebook Gaming, Level Up eligibility, double June pay for partners, Xbox gift card credit.
- ^ “Ninja isn't helping Mixer catch up to Twitch”. GamesBeat (Jeff Grubb), October 4, 2019. StreamElements quote on Ninja's move; Ninja not lifting other Mixer streamers; Ninja not sharing his deal terms.
- ^ “Ninja Returns To The Platform That Started It All — Twitch — In Exclusive, Multi-Year Deal”. Tubefilter (Geoff Weiss), September 10, 2020. Ninja's return to Twitch, undisclosed terms, reported Facebook Gaming offer turned down.
- ^ “Ninja has officially returned to Twitch after signing a multi-year deal”. Video Games Chronicle (Andy Robinson), September 11, 2020. Reported $50 million Mixer deal and reported $30 million payout (unsourced in the article); Facebook Gaming offer.