Officially launched on January 5, 2016, Mixer (formerly known as Beam) is an online streaming service dedicated to video gaming. Similar to Twitch, Mixer allows players to broadcast their gameplay for an audience over the Internet. However, Mixer distinguishes itself from the competition by having significantly lower latency. Also, Mixer touts increased interactivity for viewers in that they can affect the streamer’s gameplay by spending “Sparks” earned from watching the channel.
In May 2017, about nine months after its acquisition by Microsoft, it was announced that the original name Beam would be changed to Mixer. Also, the Xbox One dashboard and the ability for gamers to have multiple streams at the same time was added to the service.
On June 22, 2020, Microsoft announced the Mixer service would soon be shut down. On July 22, 2020, the Mixer service was officially closed and merged with Facebook Gaming, taking many of the platform’s streamers with it. However, some former Mixer streamers have moved to other platforms such as Twitch and YouTube Gaming.
Internet terms, Latency, Streamer
