Today, in a blog post on Microsoft News Center, it was announced that Microsoft has acquired Beam, an innovative and interactive livestreaming service that gives viewers the ability to watch and play along with their favorite game streamers in real-time. Beam has evolved game streaming from a passive, watch-and-chat experience into one with real-time participation by allowing the viewer to directly influence a streamer’s gameplay and live broadcast.

One of the best parts about Beam is that interactivity is easy for streamers to enable and customize, regardless of the game or platform. Beam is designed to work with any game, and will continue to offer broadcasts across all gaming platforms, just as it does today.

Beam remains committed to its mission of empowering users and streamers across platforms and will now be better positioned to grow and give more back to the community. “As part of the Xbox team, we’ll be able to scale faster than we’ve ever been able to before,” wrote Beam CEO Matt Salsamendi in a Beam blog post. “We’re expanding the team, bolstering our infrastructure, and, most importantly, continuing to grow the amazing community we’ve been lucky enough to build at Beam.”

To read more about Beam, check out Xbox Wire.