Twitch has dominated the video game streaming market ever since it became a lucrative industry. However, this control is shifting, as the service has lately been losing a lot of key streamers to Mixer.

In the mix

Mixer has been providing a streaming service in its current form since May 2017, however, previously it was trading under the name of Beam in 2016. The company was initially a successful independent operation, having won the TechCrunch Startup Battlefield competition. The firm won $50,000 in prize money from this event, which it used to invest in its growth.

However, the business’ success lead to Microsoft gaining interest, as the tech giant was looking to get a piece of the pie in the streaming market. Therefore, in August 2016 the service was bought by Microsoft for an undisclosed amount.

With the financial backing of an industry powerhouse, Mixer has gone on to become a major player in the streaming market. The brand has a focus on low-latency streaming and pushes for steamers to be interactive within their streams. This popularity growth has seen many top-name streamers switch away from Twitch for a new experience.

Big name transfers

Engadget reports that last week, Twitch star Shroud defected to Mixer despite holding 7 million followers on the Amazon-owned service. Some of his popular streams include Call of Duty, Blackout, Rainbow Six Siege, Apex Legends and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.

This was after famous Fortnite streamer Ninja also made the transfer after amassing 14.7 million followers. In the three-month period between April and June, viewers watched a total of 119.1 million hours of his streams.

Now, the most recent celebrity streamer to make the switch is Gothalion. The Destiny gamer made the switch to stream exclusively with Mixer from today. He will be hoping that at least some of his million plus followers will join him in his new direction.

Frustrated streamers

Engadget reports on claims that Twitch has been limiting the potential for licensing deals. Along with this, Ninja’s manager Jessica Blevins says that the company is unresponsive to requests from the party.

Therefore, much like the music streaming war between the likes of Apple, Spotify, and Tidal, gaming streaming is becoming a more competitive industry. Firms will be having to listen more intently to their content creators to prevent losing them to other services. After all, it is the streamers that pull in the viewers of their service.

As we head into 2020, there may be even more streamers taking the the leap for a fresh start in the new decade. Ninja already has two million followers on his new platform, a number that keeps growing. Therefore, other streamers may still be considering taking the risk to change.

Could you see yourself making the switch to Mixer like these gamers? Let us know your thoughts on the emergence of the service in the comment section.