Official line
Mixer shutting down; partnership with Facebook Gaming.
Microsoft · Gaming · Product
Mixer
Discontinued
2016–2020 · 4 years in market
Launched
Jan 1, 2016
Discontinued
Jul 22, 2020
Cause of death
Lost to a competitor
Evidence
High
What was it?
Beam, then Mixer. Ninja’s exclusive did not move the culture. Twitch remained home.
Why it died
Supported by a primary source
Buying a streamer is not buying a community. FTL tech was real; the chat was empty.
Founder takeaway
Exclusivity deals rent attention. They do not relocate a hangout.
Sources
High — primary source on file
What replaced it
Amazon
Twitch
Still where the raiders go.
Related graves
Same company, category, or cause of death.
Microsoft
RIP
Microsoft Money
1991–2009 · 18 yrs
Desktop personal finance that lost the bank-feed war to Intuit. Discontinued; users pushed toward Quicken.
Productivity/Lost to a competitor+28
Microsoft
RIP
Groove Music
2015–2023 · 8 yrs
Xbox Music, then Groove. Streaming pass sold to Spotify; the app became a local player, then faded.
Music/Lost to a competitor+23
Microsoft
RIP
Windows Phone
2010–2017 · 7 yrs
Microsoft’s last serious mobile OS. Beautiful tiles, empty stores, and a slow-motion surrender to iOS and Android.
Operating Systems/Lost to a competitor+19
Microsoft
RIP
CodePlex
2006–2017 · 11 yrs
Microsoft’s open-source forge. GitHub won; Microsoft later bought GitHub and closed CodePlex.
Developer Tools/Lost to a competitor+14