Yesterday perhaps one of the most important news in the world of streaming jumped and that is Ninja will go on to broadcast exclusively on Mixer, Microsoft's streaming platform. Ninja is considered the largest video game streamer in the world, with 14 million followers on the platform and with peaks of 250.000 people paying monthly to access extra content from its stream.
From Beam to Mixer, the streaming bet by Microsoft
Before talking about Mixer we have to look at its beginnings as Beam, which was betting on a very different form of streaming. In January 2016 the service was officially launched, although it had been in the testing phase for almost a year with a very clear idea, and is that the spectators participate in the game. Not only in the chat, but also noticeably alter the game. Through its own SDK, it was possible to create ways for people to interact in the game, either by taking the controls of the playable character or by altering the game, such as forcing the appearance of mobs in Minecraft, generating new gaming experiences. The system had its interest, it is undeniable, but it required intense modifications to get the most out of it and doing that for each game was unthinkable.
Founded in October by Matthew salsamendi, person with experience in gaming event management and a hostin company, and James boehm, with a similar profile, they achieved a sufficient mass of users so that shortly after publicly launching their service, Microsoft bought it. On August 11, 2016 the team became part of the company for an amount that has not been made public, with Matthew continuing as product manager and James with an unspecified position on social profiles but still within the division of Mixer, with some employees still working on the streaming service according to their LinkedIn profiles. At that moment Beam had 100.00 users According to their official publications, although obtaining real data from users today is not possible outside of various market analyzes. Right now the web is among the 2500 most viewed webs according to Alexa, but many of us know that its system is not the most reliable, but it is the best we can have without official data.
What makes Mixer different from Twitch?
Many have probably thought about moving to Mixer after the signing of Ninja, and it is not strange since he has been making many changes to get those streamers who are not happy with Twitch. The biggest reason is monetization, which in many places is similar to that of Twitch. We have subscriptions, but here they cost € 7,99 instead of the € 4,99 from Twitch, and the coin Embers, which amounts to the same as the Twitch bits. Mixer adds one more coin, which is the Sparks, which allow us to interact in a limited way with some streams.
While for now this monetization is limited to the most popular streamers, Mixer has announced that in the coming months they will make all streamers able to participate in the monetization measures. If this is the case, someone starting in Mixer could earn money from day one, unlike the Twitch system that sets conditions to even reach the lukewarm affiliate program, but this has yet to be implemented.
Another feature that Mixer implements for all users is the co-streaming so that several streamers come together to broadcast the same game from various points at the same time. This option has recently been available to Twitch but only for partners.
One feature Twitch doesn't have is hype zone. A game with this feature will be able to automatically record the best moments of a match and do a fully automated replay function. Games like PUBG, Fortnite and Apex Legends have it and allow you to show the best moments of a game in an almost professional way.
Continuing with exclusive Mixer things we have a level system. With the so-called sparks you also get experience that rewards users for the time they watch a streamer rather than depending on whether you have paid more or less. For example, someone veteran who has not paid a creator may have a higher level than someone who pays and goes through the channel sporadically.
What does the future hold for the platform?
With everything we have here, we can affirm that in Mixer interaction is sought from the beginning, with functions that on Twitch would be limited only to the most privileged streamers and here these functions are taken as basic to be able to grow the community. Although Microsoft runs it, they have remained very independent, although they have made concessions such as prioritizing the upload to Mixer of Windows and Xbox games, facilitating interaction with Sparks and Embers, but they have not prevented anyone from broadcasting to Twitch.
It would not be strange that they take advantage of a function so that those who have GamePass or XBox Live have a free subscription to streamers or some similar advantage. What we can appreciate is that a lot of money is going to be invested to get content and fight against the Amazon streaming platform. However, they have it very complicated, since Twitch is so established that the fact that they convinced Ninja to use their platform must have cost several million dollars in a multi-year contract. There are those who estimate that up to 20 million have been paid for it, but there is not a single official data so far.
Right now outside of Ninja there are no Mixer streamers who are very well known, this being a sign that they cannot create great personalities on the platform. It would not be strange for Microsoft to do more marketing campaigns to generate a more community sensation, but an organic community that feels Mixer as part of its identity is still lacking, since there are not few who buy Twitch sweatshirts with their own money, a sample of that many consider the purple platform as part of their expressing themselves and interacting with people with whom they share a similar hobby.
