Mixer, Microsoft’s live streaming platform has announced that they will be partnering with Facebook Gaming starting July 22nd. The announcement comes as a huge surprise after massive exclusivity deals in the streaming industry such as Ninja and Shroud. Some have estimated that Ninja had been given a deal “between $20-30 million a year” according to Business Insider. Shroud also signed a huge exclusivity deal with Mixer last October, seemingly signaling that Mixer was poaching some of the popular streamers from Amazon’s live streaming platform, Twitch.
But it seems like the huge deals weren’t enough to spark significant interest in the streaming platform. Microsoft has reportedly paid the contracts with the big name streamers. Allosing Ninja, Shroud, and others who had exclusivity deals are now free to join whichever streaming service they like. In an interview with The Verge, Microsoft’s Head of Gaming, Phil Spencer said this:
‘We started pretty far behind, in terms of where Mixer’s monthly active viewers were compared to some of the big players out there,’ …
‘I think the Mixer community is really going to benefit from the broad audience that Facebook has through their properties, and the abilities to reach gamers in a very seamless way through the social platform Facebook has.’
All Mixer sites and apps will automatically redirect to Facebook Gaming starting July 22nd. 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.