In one month, on July 22nd, Microsoft will be shutting down their livestreaming platform, Mixer, and will move their viewers and partners to Facebook Gaming. When they stop service on the 22nd, all Mixer links and apps will redirect to Facebook Gaming, while current Mixer streamers will move to Facebook Gaming today. Mixer Partners will be granted Partner status on Facebook Gaming. 

However, not all Mixer streamers are excited about the change. According to some Mixer Partners, they were uninformed of the end of service, and were completely blindsided by the announcement. Additionally, it was reported by Richard Lewis that though Facebook Gaming worked to transition the big name Mixer streamers over to their platform, both Tyler “Ninja” Blevins and Michael "Shroud" Grzesiek refused the deal. 

Half an hour later, Rod "Slasher" Breslau reported further, that Facebook Gaming had nearly doubled the original Mixer contracts they were on, but the pair - along with loaded - still refused and are free to move to any platform at this time. 

While there's no final news yet on where those two - and the rest of the Mixer community - will land in the long run, Shroud almost immediately tweeted out "IM BACK!" with his Twitch linked below. Ninja also updated his status on Twitch, listing himself as a streamer for VALORANT and Fortnite. Since Riot Games' newest title, VALORANT, didn't exist when Ninja left, his status update hints at a possible return to Twitch, where he has nearly 15 million followers. He also tweeted, "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."

Other than just the effect on Mixer Partners, Mixer viewers' outstanding Ember balances and money spent on subscriptions will be paid out via Xbox gift cards on July 22nd when the final shift is made. In an interview with GamesBeat, Xbox head, Phil Spencer, spoke about the reasons for shutting down service and moving over to Facebook Gaming. 

“But it was also clear as we were watching our growth that we weren’t achieving the goals that we needed to achieve in order to deliver on that community and opportunity that our creators and streamers needed,” Spencer said. “So earlier this year, I had to make decisions about where to focus our resources. And we decided that we weren’t going to continue on the path that we were on with Mixer, but rather look for a partner that could help us deliver on our long-term vision for gaming, and a partner who shared that vision opportunity, and allowed us to continue to invest in the areas that were important to us and redirect our teams and our resources.”

The "long term vision" Spencer is talking about is Microsoft's focus on developing xCloud, a streaming software that will allow you to stream from your Xbox. Facebook Gaming is a valuable partner for Microsoft to have to continue developing the software without having to spend resources on growing and supporting their own streaming platform. And while Mixer's most recent viewer report was 30 million a little under a year ago, Facebook has reported a reach of 700 million people that interact with Facebook Gaming each month. "It’s not clear exactly when we’ll see xCloud show up in Facebook Gaming, but it’s a key part of this new partnership," Spencer says. 

Inven Global will continue to update this story upon confirmation of new homes for major streamers, as well as other news revolving around Microsoft and Facebook's new partnership in streaming and gaming.

UPDATED 6/22: Mixer has created a channel for Mixer Partners, calling them to discuss their steps in migration to Facebook Gaming, according to Slasher. 

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