Mixer (service)
Mixer was an American video game live streaming platform. The service launched on January 5, 2016, as Beam, under the ownership of co-founders Matthew Salsamendi and James Boehm. The service placed an emphasis on interactivity, with low stream latency and a platform for allowing viewers to perform actions that can influence a stream.
The service was acquired by Microsoft in August 2016, after which it was renamed Mixer in 2017 and integrated into Microsoft's Xbox division (including top-level integration on Xbox One). In 2019, Mixer gained attention when it signed two top streamers from its main competitor, Twitch—Ninja and Shroud—to a contract with the service.
However, citing an inability to scale its operations, Microsoft announced on June 22, 2020 that Mixer would be shutting down by the end of July 22, and that an agreement had been made with Facebook for monetized channels to join similar programs on Facebook's game streaming platform. Microsoft officially shut down Mixer on July 22, 2020.[2]
Features[edit]
Mixer used a low-latency streaming protocol known as FTL ("Faster Than Light");[3] the service states that this protocol only creates delays of less than a second between the original broadcast and when it is received by users, rather than 10–20 seconds, making it more appropriate for real-time interactivity between a streamer and their viewers. In addition, viewers can use buttons below a stream to interact with it, including voting, special effects, and influencing gameplay. Some interactions required users to spend "Sparks"—a currency accumulated while viewing streams. An SDK was available to integrate games with this system.[4][5]
In November 2018, the site unveiled a major update branded as "Season 2", including features launching immediately, and plans for upcoming features. The update added automatic quality adjustment to the player, and "Skills"—a feature that can be used to trigger special animations and effects in chat. Some premium skills are purchased using the paid currency "Embers"; channels can receive revenue from Embers spent by their viewers. Partnered streamers can also receive payment bonuses based on the volume of Sparks spent on their channels.[6] In April 2019, Mixer added "Channel Progression"—a level system for tracking users' engagement with a particular channel over time. Users can receive benefits to reward their long-term participation.[7][8] Mixer's features also included CATbot, an auto chat filtration bot that helped remove unwanted chat content on streamers’ channels before chat ever saw it. CATbot's moderation level could be adjusted for all viewers or could be set according to viewers’ rank in Channel Progression.[9]
Users could also purchase subscriptions to individual channels that are Mixer partners, which allowed access to exclusive emoticons, and adds a badge to their name in chat commemorate their support. Initially, these were priced at US$5.99 per month. In October 2019, Mixer announced that the price would be lowered to $4.99 (~$6.00 in 2023), matching the price of subscriptions on Twitch.[10]