War… War never changes, and it caused the death of Mixer.
In the early dawn of the 2010s, the landscape of gaming entertainment was altered forever with the advent of live streaming. A small streaming platform called Twitch turned from a startup into an economic superpower, launching a few privileged creators into super stardom.
Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, the largest of these stars, unknowingly became an instrument of destruction. He signed an exclusive deal with a competing platform, upending the balance of power and pushing the streaming world… to war.
In 2020, Mixer, the platform that had stolen Ninja, found itself a victim of its own hubris and shut down for good. In one blinding flash, an entire platform was wiped off the map — the death of Mixer . The creators who called it home had their livelihoods destroyed. Now, all that remains is a memory, and war… war never changes.
Before the death of Mixer: The creation of Twitch
Before the death of Mixer, before there was a streaming war, and before there was even a Twitch, there was the progenitor of all streaming services: Justin.tv. It began as a 24/7 livestream focusing on the life of Co-founder Justin Kan in a style reminiscent of the Truman show, Edtv or, more recently, the Ludwig Subathon. This experiment led to the official launch of the platform to the general public, allowing anyone to stream basically any content they liked. Well, as long as it was legal. But, while Justin.tv was open to any kind of content, it was their gaming section that became incredibly popular. This called for the creation of a new platform focused on gaming.
In June of 2011, Justin.tv debuted their new platform, Twitch, which finally gave gamers a place to call home. Thanks to the popularity of Justin.tv, Twitch was able to start off with a bang. It attracted more than 3 million viewers while still in its beta phase.
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