In a totally unexpected turn of events, Mixer is going offline on July 22, Microsoft has announced. This news comes via The Verge, and according to the report, in the coming weeks, the existing viewers and streamers are going to be transferred to Facebook Gaming, as Microsoft has decided to partner with Facebook. Starting on the 22nd of next month, all Mixer sites and apps will redirect users to Facebook Gaming.
Despite having Ninja and Shroud joining recently, and a widening audience, Mixer has still struggled to compete with Twitch, YouTube and Facebook Gaming. In a statement, Xbox boss Phil Spencer explained why they made this decision:
"We started pretty far behind, in terms of where Mixer's monthly active viewers were compared to some of the big players out there," Spencer said. "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."
Current Mixer partners will become partners with Facebook and streamers will "be granted partner status with Facebook Gaming, and the platform will honour and match all existing Partner agreements as closely as possible," according to Mixer's blog post.
"Mixer viewers with outstanding Ember balances, channel subscriptions, or Mixer Pro subscriptions will receive Xbox gift card credit."
However, The Verge also noted that the top streamers such as Ninja and Shroud are free to return to Twitch if they want to. Ninja hasn't confirmed what his next step is, however, on Twitter he wrote, " I love my community and what we built together on Mixer. I have some decisions to make and will be thinking about you all as I make them." Where he will be next remains to be seen.