Wow - a lot happens in a year. Last May, you welcomed Mixer into your lives. Since then, it's been an amazing journey together. We've laughed together. We've cried together. We've had GGs and epic fails. But most of all, there's been...community, together. And we wouldn't trade this amazing ride for anything in the world!

Because of YOU, Mixer surpassed more than 10M monthly active users last December and has continued to grow beyond expectations ever since. Because of YOU, the Mixer viewing audience has grown more than 4X and watched streams have grown more than 5X since launch. And because of YOU, Mixer has stayed the positive, welcoming, amazing place that we love, even with this tremendous growth. Put simply, YOU are all amazing.

We want to celebrate today by saying thank you. We're inspired every day by the creators, the moderators, the viewers, and the fans. It's truly humbling to share this journey with such a passionate and creative community.

But what's an anniversary without a few gifts?

Starting today, we'll be rolling out a beta of our refreshed experience for Desktop and Mobile Web. With this refresh, we've made it easier to find streamers playing the games you love or broadcasting in the creative communities that you care about the most.

Some of the first elements of the Mixer.com refresh will be available today to Mixer Pro subscribers. To opt-in and see the new site, visit your Account Settings and select the Site Version dialog, Anniversary Design option at the bottom of the page. This refresh will roll out in waves, so Pro subscribers will continue to see more updates and improvements in the coming weeks, and all Mixer viewers will see the updated site in early summer.

Interactivity has been at the core of Mixer from the start. It's our mission to bring viewers and streamers closer together in new and innovative ways. Over the past year, we've partnered with game developers like Mojang, Scavenger Studios, Telltale Games, tinyBuild, Ghost Ship Games and many more to experiment and create experiences that bring this to vision to life.

Now, it's time for the next step and evolution in what's possible on Mixer...

With MixPlay, we've added to the arsenal of tools developers have to create next-generation streaming experiences. Instead of just adding buttons below the stream, developers can now create MixPlay experiences on top of streams, in panels on the side of video, as widgets around video or as free-floating overlays, all while completely matching the look and feel of their games or streamed content. The entire video window is now the developer's canvas, and all that's needed is familiarity with standard web technology like HTML and JavaScript.

MixPlay enables deeper and richer interactive experiences for Mixer users.

Our Share Controller feature that released in April was built entirely with these expanded capabilities and is a prime example of how MixPlay can power totally unique streaming scenarios. We used MixPlay to create a fully virtual Xbox controller, and now anyone broadcasting from Xbox One can share their controller with a Mixer viewer, allowing streamers and viewers to play along in real-time right from the web.

You'll also start seeing MixPlay games that are only playable on Mixer. One example is Mixer Mini Golf which released earlier this month and has already racked up over 300,000 views in just a few weeks. There, players compete against each other for the lowest score and the right to play course designer for the next hole.

Or Truck Stars, a 4-player truck basher from Very Very Spaceship, where you can join in, play right away and smash your opponents to victory.

With both games, the controls completely blend into the stream, delivering an experience that truly blurs the line between 'watching' and 'playing.'

However, MixPlay isn't limited to powering experiences that change or impact gameplay. You'll also start to see MixPlay experiences that enhance streams with additional context and information. For example, we've partnered with Hi-Rez Studios to create a MixPlay-powered stats dashboard for the Smite Pro League. You'll see this live starting next week during Summer Split and it will continue to evolve based on community feedback for the remainder of the year.

We're also incredibly excited to announce three new games launching today with MixPlay experiences built in: Earthfall, Next Up Hero and Late Shift.

EARTHFALL

When the Earth falls to an extra-terrestrial invasion, humanity becomes an endangered species. Earthfall is a frenetic 4-player co-op shooter where you can team up with friends or play alone to save the world from the alien hordes.

Viewers on Mixer will be able to interact with streamers in-game by giving them items such as weapons, grenades, health packs and other perks to help them as they fight against the alien invasion. Viewers will also be able to change the game by spawning enemies into matches, including special bosses, making each playthrough on Mixer special.

WATCH EARTHFALL STREAMS

NEXT UP HERO

Next Up Hero is a Gauntlet-style co-op dungeon crawler starring hand-drawn heroes that hack, slash, shoot, bongo drum, and boomerang their way through Ventures. Choose your Hero and start rolling dungeons against vile yet adorable monsters. Insert yourself into the Venture as an echo or a shadow to assist or assault the player. In addition, two viewers per Venture can either help a streamer out by taking control of the echo army, or slow or freeze the streamer at the worst possible moment -- a real Dirge move on your part.

WATCH NEXT UP HERO STREAMS

LATE SHIFT

Late Shift is a high stakes FMV crime thriller. After being forced into the robbery of a lucrative auction house, mathematics student Matt is left proving his innocence in the brutal London heist. Your choices will have consequences from the very start, right through to the very end. One small decision could change the entire outcome in a choose-your-own-adventure style gameplay that can lead to one of seven conclusions.

WATCH LATE SHIFT STREAMS

How can you find MixPlay experiences? We're glad you asked. With the site refresh, we're adding additional filters that enable you to sort between MixPlay Games, Share Controller, and Other. We're also adding new featured content rows to highlight streamers and new MixPlay-enabled games.

Stay tuned…we'll have more to share around new MixPlay experiences next month at E3 2018.

We see more than 500 unique streamers every day chasing Chicken Dinner and Victory Royale glory in the HypeZone. The down-to-the-wire, 24/7 non-stop action is what makes HypeZone an addicting experience for viewers and an awesome discovery vehicle for streamers of all sizes.

Now, we're expanding HypeZone beyond the Battle Royale genre for the first time…

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six® Siege is a tactical first-person shooter with intense 5v5 team matches. Attack or defend with your choice of a variety of unique operators. Enter the siege with an active community of over 30 million players.

HypeZoneRainbow6 will be looking for streamers in Late Round, Overtime and Match Point situations. This will be the best way to watch the most exciting Rainbow Six action on Mixer, and we can't wait to see you all in the Rainbow Six HypeZone!

We announced Direct Purchase back in February, giving Mixer viewers an easy way to purchase games and game content while rewarding the Mixer Partners who recommended and showcased their great gameplay. In celebration of today's Anniversary and with thanks for all your feedback on the program, we're offering a limited time gift-with-purchase promotion. You'll receive a gift of $5 Microsoft Storecredit for making a purchase of $9.99 or more via Mixer Direct Purchase. More details can be found at learn.mixer.com/promotions. We also want to give special thanks to our incredible Mixer Partners. So, during this same promotional window, we're doubling the percentage they earn on every Direct Purchase to 10%. This is a great way you can help reward your favorite streamers for introducing you to fun games and DLC.

The Mixer Create app is the best way to stay connected with your audience on the go, and now we're making it easier to initiate and manage your Mixer Co-Streams directly from your phone.

You can easily initiate a Co-Stream by clicking the Co-stream button at the bottom of your Mixer Create profile. Search, find, and add your co-stars for the stream. Once you have your lineup finalized, you can send out invites to your crew, who will all receive notifications to join your stream. Finally, you can configure the placement of your co-streamers in your desired layout. Mixer Create supports the grid layout for any combination up to four streamers. You can re-position the order and placement of your other co-streamers, as well as remove (or kick) them from your stream as needed.

You can experience this feature today in the Mixer Create beta on Android, in the coming days for our iOS beta testers. It will roll out to all Mixer Create users in early June!

Whenever you tune into Mixer there's always something to watch. From our Partners, to HypeZone, all the way to Creative - we want to give everyone, broadcaster or viewer, a home here on Mixer. This extends to competitive gaming, and we are passionate about providing more esports content for viewers and players on all platforms.

Earlier this morning, Hi-Rez Studios announced the formation of a PS4 league coming to the SMITE competitive circuit, which will be streamed exclusively on Mixer. The SMITE PS4 League will be open to teams in both North America and Europe, and qualifying matches to determine participants will start on June 2nd. Learn more about the league format and how your team can participate in the PS4 League Qualifiers here.

And of course, along with the PlayStation expansion of the SMITE console league, you can expect to see more enhancements to the current viewing experiences for all Hi-Rez esports on Mixer, including the SMITE Pro League. Beginning with the Summer Split, SMITE and Paladins viewers will be able to connect their Mixer and Hi-Rez accounts to receive direct entitlements for all chests and rolls. No more fussing with codes and missing out on loot! We'll have more details to share during the upcoming SMITE Patch Notes - tune in to Mixer.com/SMITEgame at 11 AM EST on June 1st to learn more about connected accounts.

We're also thrilled to be announcing a brand new partnership with the ESL! To add to our current stable of esports programming, we're going to bring you over 15,000 hours of programming from some of the highest level competitive games, including Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, League of Legends, and Dota 2. ESL will leverage Mixer's FTL technology to bring you some of the best tournaments in sub-second latency, in addition to providing live shout-casting in over 10 different languages! Check out some of the awesome events streaming on Mixer in May and June:

At the center of everything we do is you, our community. Every feature we make, every update we send, and every new show we push live…it's always for you. So, we have a few fun things planned to celebrate you!

  • You may have noticed a fantastic team of artists hard at work yesterday building an elaborate domino installation that's packed to the brim with references to the past year here at Mixer. If you missed it, catch the VOD over at Mixer.com/Mixer! But now your part comes in. Knocking them all over is squarely in your MixPlay hands. Check out our special 2-hour LevelUp Cast Thursday to find out how! There's a lot to see, including a tease on our exciting new E3 booth presence, so we won't go spoiling it all here - but, prepare to get hyped at Mixer.com/LevelUpCast.

  • As one more way of saying thanks, we'll be giving a Free 1-month channel subscription and up to 90 days of Mixer Pro benefits to anyone who helps us celebrate by signing into Mixer at least once between May 24th, 2018 at 12:00AM UST and May 28th, 2018 at 11:59PM PDT and reaching at least Level 10 on your Mixer account by the end of that time. Expect to see these added to your account by June 1st, 2018 at the latest so you can get to supporting your favorite streamer and enjoying the benefits of Mixer Pro. The channel sub credit expires on July 1st, 2018 (30 days after you receive it), so make sure you redeem it by then! More details here

  • And, last but very not least - we want you to have something lasting to remember this first year. Which is why we put together a few new emotes for you to use across Mixer. Some are new, some are refreshed - but either way, it's a sign of what's to come! This July, prepare for even more updates on the Mixer emote front.

Happy 1st Anniversary, Mixer. There's nobody we'd rather celebrate with!

-Matt Salsamendi & James Boehm

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Microsoft Corporation published this content on 24 May 2018 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 24 May 2018 13:52:06 UTC