Microsoft Renames Beam To Mixer, Also Adds New Features

Beam was the most popular game streaming app on Xbox One last month, Mike Nichols, CMO for Xbox at Microsoft, told CNBC in an interview. The streamers will be able to continue their social interactions with their audience, which actually can help grow their audience even more.

What do you think of the name change and new features?

“Another thing Mixer needs to implement is the ability for players to buy games directly through the service – via Microsoft’s stores – and for the streamers to take a percentage of any purchases that they trigger”, said IHS Markit’s Bailey. Today, the Windows-maker announces that it is giving the platform a rebrand – it is now called “Mixer”.

To celebrate, Microsoft will host a full day of livestreamed events on the Xbox Mixer channel today.

Microsoft acquired the Beam game streaming service in August previous year. It’s available on PC starting 25 May, while Xbox Insiders will be given the chance to test it before it generally rolls out to Microsoft’s gaming console.

A separate feature, in testing, will let players on iOS and Android smartphones broadcast their gaming to the re-christened Mixer service.

Along with the other features, a Mixer Create app will show up in beta for mobile devices. Mixer has apparently been chosen as the replacement because it reflects the team’s ambitions for the platform.

Channel One. This moderated channel of content lets you see the high-quality streams that are available across Mixer from one place. Microsoft promises the eventual option of streaming mobile games, but how that will work is up in the air.

You can download Mixer Create from the link below, if you want to try it out.

Microsoft, which acquired Beam in August, said it was a tough decision to leave behind the original branding.

Microsoft’s live streaming service Beam, which it bought past year, is getting a new name and features in order to help it compete with Twitch. The platform is now called Mixer, which Microsoft says better reflects the goal of building communities and bringing gamers together. In March, Twitch streamed over 800 “Power Rangers” episodes as part of a 17-day marathon. There will be new features coming to both Mixer Create and Mixer. The announcement came from Matt Salsamendi on the official Xbox website. “You’ll also be able to invite someone to co-stream with you, they get a little toast notification and can join in”, Salsamendi explained.