Microsoft is shutting down its video game streaming platform, Mixer, after its growth failed to meet the company’s expectations.
The company said Monday it is partnering with Facebook (FB) to transition the Mixer streaming community to Facebook Gaming. The deal brings together two big names in the gaming world in a partnership that could challenge industry leader, Amazon’s (AMZN) Twitch.
“The success of Partners and streamers on Mixer is dependent on our ability to scale the platform for them as quickly and broadly as possible,” Mixer said in a blog post Monday. “It became clear that the time needed to grow our own livestreaming community to scale was out of measure with the vision and experiences that Microsoft and Xbox want to deliver for gamers now, so we’ve decided to close the operations side of Mixer and help the community transition to a new platform.”
The companies declined to say how much the deal is worth. Facebook spokesperson Drew Symonds noted that it is a partnership “not a merger or an acquisition.” The spokesperson added that Facebook Gaming will assume the rights to the Mixer trademarks and associated domain names, but Microsoft will retain the intellectual property rights to the Mixer technology.
Mixer co-founder Matt Salsamendi, who left the company last year, said he will not see any money from the deal.
Mixer, once called Beam, had largely flown under the radar since it was acquired by Microsoft in 2016. But last year, the platform gained attention when Fortnite star Ninja made the jump from Twitch to exclusively streaming on Mixer.
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