Mixer
Beam
Microsoft bought a low-latency streaming startup, renamed it Mixer, signed superstar creators—and closed it four years after launch.
Quick facts
- Existence state
- Officially Gone
- Peak stage
- general availability
- Research confidence
- high
- Last verified
What it was
A public live-streaming platform focused on low latency, audience interaction and video-game broadcasts.
The service launched as Beam in 2016 and was acquired by Microsoft that August. Rebranded Mixer in 2017, it became deeply integrated with Xbox and later paid prominent streamers to move from Twitch, but its audience remained far behind the market leaders.
Existence timeline
The low-latency streaming service reaches the public under its original name.
The startup and its team join Microsoft and Xbox.
Microsoft gives the global service a new name and adds collaborative streaming features.
Mixer signs prominent streamers in an attempt to accelerate audience growth.
Microsoft says Mixer cannot reach the scale needed for its community vision.
Mixer sites and apps close and redirect users toward Facebook Gaming.
Why it ended
Microsoft announced in June 2020 that Mixer would close and direct its community toward Facebook Gaming. The consumer service ended on July 22, 2020.
Last confirmed trace
Microsoft retained parts of Mixer's low-latency technology for other products, while archived channels, recordings and creator histories document the service itself.
What it left behind
Mixer demonstrated both the power and limits of buying headline creators to move a networked audience, and its shutdown displaced communities that had invested in a platform-specific identity.
How we classified it
Mixer was a normal globally available public service with accounts, creators and commercial operation before it permanently closed.
Normal general availability maps to 100 under Arrival Score V1.
Sources & verification
Last reviewed 2026-08-01. Sources are linked so readers can inspect the evidence directly.