Microsoft flushes more money down the toilet by killing Mixer

Microsoft has a lot of successes, but also, the company has countless failures. With that said, failing in a business venture isn't entirely a bad thing -- it means you at least tried something. A company like Microsoft needs to take risks, but damn, sometimes it just feels like the company flushes cash down the toilet.

Case in point, back in 2016, Microsoft bought a game-streaming service (a Twitch clone) called "Beam." In 2017, the Windows-maker renamed that service to what it is known as today -- "Mixer." The company even paid millions of dollars to popular video game players to get them to stream elusively on the service. Hell, it was less than a year ago that Microsoft signed popular player  "Ninja" for more than $20 million! And now, in 2020, Microsoft has killed Mixer, essentially burning many millions of dollars. Yup, the company announces that it will shutter Mixer on July 22 and then move all of its users to the Facebook Gaming platform.

"Ultimately, 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. 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. To better serve our community’s needs, we’re teaming up with Facebook to enable the Mixer community to transition to Facebook Gaming. This is a key part of a broader effort that Xbox and Facebook Gaming are embarking on, bringing new experiences and opportunities to the entire world of gaming," says The Mixer Team.

The team further says, "The Facebook Gaming team and Creators will help expand the vision that Mixer has always held around community and building a platform that is inclusive and supportive of each other. For Mixer’s streamers, this opens up the opportunity to reach the vast audience of one of the world’s fastest growing streaming platforms. Every month, more than 700 million people play a game, watch a gaming video or interact in a gaming Group on Facebook. For Facebook Gaming’s Creators, this brings the ability to partner closely with the Xbox ecosystem, including future opportunities around Xbox Game Pass, Project xCloud and more."

Did Microsoft make a mistake by buying Mixer? Obviously, but hindsight is 20/20. Look, gambling on a game-streaming service in 2016 wasn't crazy and I can't fault the company for taking that risk. After all, Amazon did quite well by acquiring Twitch just a couple years earlier. The thing is, while it can be wise to cut your losses early, it seems like Microsoft bailed on Mixer way too soon. I mean, how can you go from handing out multi-million dollar contracts in 2019 to closing it all up in 2020? Oh well. It is Microsoft's money to flush.

Do you think Microsoft made the right choice to kill Mixer? Please tell me in the comments below.

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