Let’s rewind back to May 24th, 2017. On that day, the Beam community knew that something big was happening the next day. Beam’s official twitter had been plugging this so-called “secret reveal” for over a week. Current Beam partners were exceptionally quiet about what was going on and from a viewers standpoint, we were clueless. The next day, everything changed for the better. The day practically started by Beam completely changing…. basically everything. Their name, color, layout, Twitter presence all completely changed and became something we now know as Mixer.

At first, the community was rather apprehensive to the name Mixer but as time went by we started to realize that this was home for the communities. The name aged well and soon you saw the disappearance of “#BeamLove” and witnessed the birth of “#MixerMagic“. These essential “hashtags” are super important to the site, believe it or not. Something as simple as “MixerMagic” is wildly used on Twitter and other forms of social media. This major change in branding all together benefited the platform in many ways, allowing it to grow and mature on its own.

Fast forward to where we are now. Mixer is now a thriving contender in the online gaming community and live streaming industry. Mixer is averaging 10 million monthly active users (as of January 2018) and is continuing to build their presence at various events like PAX and E3. Moves like this are all part of a growing platform and they’re moving in a consistent and upward direction to allow their site to continue to grow.

 Upon hitting that monumental One Year mark, Mixer decided to yet again go for a total overhaul of their site and performance. One of the biggest things anyone will notice upon entering the site, they absolutely changed their user interface around the entire site. This change is allowing for easier and a much faster navigation throughout the entire site. They basically integrated a lot of their performance and simplicity from the Xbox Dashboard layout that they had set up for the home screen. Another area that they really tweaked is actually within a stream as well. They centralized a lot of the social media, VODs, and basic interactions (subscribing, following and hosting) which has ultimately created a more appealing view of the stream.

Aside from pure aesthetic changes, Mixer also introduced to a change to something we’ve grown to know and love. For those that have never ventured onto Mixer, you might not know that the platform is referred to as “Mixer Interactive Live-streaming”. This means that viewers may have access to certain things like soundboards and images to influence how the streamer may react. A lot of Mixer streamers and the majority of Mixer Partners always have an interactive board up on their streams. Mixer paved the way for interactivity which has created an all new perspective to viewing a streamer. Their Faster Than Light protocol aside, having true interactivity within a stream creates a more personal experience. Mixer has partnered with Mojang, Ghost Ship Games, Scavenger Studios and others to create an even more immersive experience for you, the viewer.

To bring something new to life, Mixer introduced MixPlay, which is basically their interactive ability completely revolutionized and re-imagined. This allows the interactivity to appear seamless with the profile and not take away from the fluidity. Just before the one-year celebration, Share Controller was revealed back in April. This is basically where the streamer allows the audience to have control of the game as well. It’s like having Player Two right next to you, except they can be completely across the globe. If you’re streaming from Xbox One then the viewer can basically pop up a controller on the web and play along. This feature allows the streamer and audience to come closer together on all fronts.
Mixer brought something else to the table that was absolutely unexpected as well. Mixer has created something called the “HypeZone” where if a streamer is playing PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, Fortnite, or a growing selection of competitive games, and is the closest to a victory out of everyone playing, they’ll be hosted by these independent channels that algorithmically search for the one closest to the victory… or heartbreaking defeat. To add to this pivotal feature, they decided to bring Rainbow Six: Siege into the fray, where those that are closest to Match Point will also be hosted by that channel! R6S always attracts their own communities and independent content creators that would love to take advantage of something so helpful.

Partners were also shown quite a bit of love with the anniversary. Not only were the Partners sent very cozy Mixer themed onesies but also a highly coveted and asked about feature started rolling out in wider waves. Direct Purchasing was brought forward for Partners to opt into, which allows community members to purchase games directly from the streamer profile which will also allow them to support the streamer as well. Twitch has had and utilized a feature such as this for a while now but it’s a positive sign of growth with Mixer finally enabling it for their Partners as well.

Rocketing into this year, Mixer has made many changes and is continuing to grow in an upwards and outwards direction. The staff, partners, and streamers behind the platform really care for its growth and want to see it thrive. As we continue through 2018, we’ll see more changes come out and Mixer continuing to pave the way in different directions for content creation and streaming altogether.