Mixer has been in the spotlight since it signed superstar Fortnite streamer Tyler “Ninja” Blevins yesterday. This move is a huge investment from the company to try to attract more viewers and content creators to its platform since Ninja used to be one of the biggest streamers on Twitch.
And even though it was a big move, Mixer doesn’t intend to take over Twitch or sign many of its big streamers, CEO and co-founder Matt Salsamendi said yesterday during a livestream.
“The goal has always been to support both communities, no matter where you are,” Salsamendi said. “We want streaming to grow in general, and Mixer can be successful in a lot of ways. I’m excited for that.”
He also used his livestream to address questions from new Mixer users who were likely using the platform for the first time because of Ninja’s migration. One of them asked about the differences between the platform and its main competitor, Twitch. Salsamendi said there are technology, features, and community approach differences between the two.
“One of the things that we did early on to try to get ahead in some of that stuff was making our Rules of Conduct as clear and objective as possible,” Salsamendi said. “So that you know if you’re doing something right or wrong. There’s not really a gray area.”
Twitch has been struggling with the enforcement of its Terms of Service for some time, which has been leading some users to question the company’s approach to certain streamers. For instance, Twitch removed a clip from a streamer who breastfed live on stream and then clarified that her action wasn’t against the platform’s rules. It also threatened to ban streamers like Félix “xQc” Lengyel for three days for showing a video that briefly showed a penis, but in the end, the ban lasted less than 24 hours.
The most iconic case of the recent controversy regarding Twitch’s enforcement of rules was with IRL streamer Alinity. She was accused of animal mishandling for throwing her cat over her head during a livestream, which caused the Twitch community to demand for her to be suspended. Twitch didn’t do anything and the animal protection agency Saskatoon SPCA concluded that she had “no malicious intent.”
Mixer seems to be attempting to grow from Twitch’s mistakes rather than trying to invest in other big streamers like Ninja. But Salsamendi seems to recognize that the gap between Twitch and Mixer is still huge, and maybe Ninja is one of the company’s best bets to start closing it.
