Michael “Shroud” Grzesiek is the latest renowned streamer to make the move to Microsoft’s Mixer streaming platform.
The full-time streamer announced his switch from Amazon-owned streaming service Twitch to Mixer on Thursday, October 24, with a small clip uploaded to Twitter.
Same shroud. New home.https://t.co/eZV2GBBSsY pic.twitter.com/AHaajkjees
— Michael Grzesiek (@shroud) October 24, 2019
After joining Twitch in November 2012, Shroud eventually became one of the most popular streamers on the platform. In the past 365 days, Shroud recorded 81,389,686 hours watched with an average of 30,248 concurrent viewers. The 25-year-old had 7,069,584 followers on the platform at the time of his departure.
The majority of Shroud’s streaming time in 2019 has been dedicated to World of Warcraft and Apex Legends, but with the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Shroud streamed the new first-person shooter game on Mixer.
What an incredible first stream on @WatchMixer. Mind blown by the support of both mine and Mixers communities. You guys made this such an easy transition, excited for the future! <3
— Michael Grzesiek (@shroud) October 25, 2019
Shroud isn’t the first notable Twitch streamer to make a move to Mixer in 2019.
Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, a professional battle royale player and streamer, shook up the streaming industry when he announced that he would be joining Mixer on August 1.
In the short time that Ninja has been streaming on Mixer, he has recorded 7,190,544 hours watched and a total of 2,493,744 followers on the platform.
However, streaming statistics site TwitchTracker shows that although Ninja now streams for longer per session (7.8 hours vs. 6 hours), his mean average concurrent viewers have dropped to 14,729 at Mixer, against 37,702 from Ninja’s last full month on Twitch (July).
The statistics indicate that Shroud, too, is likely to suffer from reduced viewership at his new, exclusive streaming destination.
With a concurrent viewer base that is 30 times smaller than that of Twitch, Mixer will need to continue to make significant acquisitions if they wish to bridge the gap.