On Tuesday, Microsoft officially announced the shutting down of its streaming service Mixer which was launched in 2016. Since its launch Mixer had a hard time penetrating the streaming. Just last year, Microsft had dished out millions to sign many big Twitch streamers like former Counter-Strike pro, Michael “Shroud” Grzesiek and Fortnite star Tyler “Ninja” Blevins to exclusively stream on Mixer. Even after spending millions to acquire streamers and running expensive campaigns the popularity of Mixer never picked up and numbers remained all-time low.
In a last-ditch effort, Microsoft also announced its collaboration with Facebook’s streaming platform, Facebook Gaming. As soon as the news of Mixer shutting down broke out, many people were confused about the fate of exclusive streamers that Microsft had signed for multiple years. Soon sources at Mixer clarified that all streamers will soon receive their payment and were free to go anywhere.
Later another news broke out from some sources that Facebook tried to negotiate a multi-year deal with Ninja and Shroud, but both denied and opted to remain free agents.
According to rumours, Ninja was offered a staggering $60-90 Million if he remained exclusive to Facebook Gaming. The Metro UK reported that Ninja was $60 million while Shroud was offered $20 million to join Facebook Gaming. Although Ninja reportedly said no and opted-out of an offer that would have made him one of the wealthiest gamers of all time.
To this day, Ninja remains number 1 on Twitch with more than 14.7 million followers, while his rival Turner “Tfue” Tenney is second with just over 8.5 million. Even after a year of no presence of Twitch Ninja had remained number 1.
