Category: News

Microsoft is getting out of the live streaming game, and has announced that its Mixer streaming portal will go dark on July 22. 

Mixer was the cumulation of Microsoft’s attempt to take on streaming giant Twitch, and the company has poured significant time and effort into building the service out as a viable platform through interactive features and, just recently, exclusivity contracts with top streamers. 

But, as Xbox head Phil Spencer explains in a blog post, Mixer wasn’t quite able to scale up to where the company needed the platform to be, and as such Microsoft has instead decided to put the service to rest and focus its attentions on other projects like xCloud.

Social media posts from those that worked behind the scenes on Mixer seem to indicate the Microsoft staff working on the platform found out about the shutdown moments before the public announcement went live. While Spencer notes that Mixer’s technology will live on through other Microsoft products like Teams, it’s not yet known if Microsoft will fully transition Mixer staff to other projects within the company. (Update: According to statement provided to Gamasutra from a Microsoft spokesperson, “We can confirm that we are committed to redeploying people and technology across our team wherever possible.”)

“Ultimately, the success of Partners and streamers on Mixer is dependent on our ability to scale the service for them as quickly and broadly as possible,” writes Spencer. “It became clear that the time needed to grow our own livestreaming community to scale was out of measure with the vision and experiences we want to deliver to gamers now, so we’ve decided to close the operations side of Mixer and help the community transition to a new platform.”

That new platform isn’t so new. Microsoft has partnered with Facebook to transition the current Mixer streamer- and viewer-base over to the social network’s baked-in streaming platform Facebook Gaming. That process has already started for some, and Mixer is working to get existing users set up over on the new platform between now and that shutdown date. Once Mixer goes dark on July 22, any Mixer sites or apps will automatically redirect to Facebook Gaming as well. 

Those streamers that had signed contracts to broadcast exclusively on Mixer, including big names like Ninja and Shroud, won’t be required to carry that exclusivity over to Facebook Gaming, according to a statement from Facebook Gaming CEO Vivek Sharma delivered to The Verge, though reports circulating around online say that Facebook Gaming attempted to forge new contracts with those streamers and were denied. 

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The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.

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[Actually, the very first game I worked on as a pro game designer was bundled with a 3D card.]

It’s issue number 200 (I think!) of Video Game Deep Cuts on Substack, so thanks for all of those still sticking around.

Nowadays, betwen 2,500 and 3,000 people actually open and read each of these newsletters across Substack and Gamasutra, and as many as 250 click through on each individual link, so… that’s great! Will keep it going as long as I can…

– Simon, curator

The Current: New(er) Games To Consider

• Hardspace: Shipbreaker (PC, Early Access) is an impressive-looking first person salvager (FPS?) where the focus is on looting derelict spaceships. 

The Culture: Game Culture & Deep Dives

The Past: Game History

The Other Goodness

Thanks for reading, and see you next week.
Simon.

The Gamasutra Job Board is the most diverse, active and established board of its kind for the video game industry!

Here is just one of the many, many positions being advertised right now.

Location: Hamburg, Germany

As Java Software Developer, you work closely with our game teams to shape the foundation of our next big hits and contribute as a productive member of an agile development team in all phases of the development lifecycle. 

Your mission: 

• Develop features shared across our game backends 
• Improve performance-critical components, increase the robustness and scalability of our software 
• Improve our libraries and backend services with your knowledge of software architecture and high-quality code 
• Maintain and extend our development tools and environment 

Your profile: 

• Degree in Computer Sciences, Business Information Systems or equivalent training and experience as IT specialist 
• Several years of experience in object-oriented programming in Java with Spring Boot and optimally the Akka framework 
• Software development with Spring, the UNIX command line and profound knowledge of SQL, GIT, and Continuous Delivery 
• You love to dive deep into other people’s code which is reflected in your Github profile. 
• Solid experience in using various methods in software design and a strong belief in automated testing to guarantee and improve code quality in compliance with the company standards 
• Being a backend geek, you also like to switch to the frontend side with Angular, C# and Unity 
• Good English language and overall communication skills 
• Proactive and motivated individual with a willingness to learn 

Why join us?

• Be part of a great international team in a healthy and stable growing company
• Your working device is the latest MacBook Pro with high end hardware
• We actively support your further development and give you all needed resources to evaluate new technologies and participate in open source communities
• We provide additional training budget to spend on attending conferences, taking hard skill courses or improve your soft skills as well as purchasing books
• Our career model is set up equally for an expert in a technical career or a management path
• Use opportunities to make your code open source and show your achievements at international conferences
• We offer competitive compensation with benefits like relocation support, company gym, smartphone or tablet, company bikes, rooftop terrace with BBQ and much more

Excited to start your journey with InnoGames and join our dynamic team as a Java Software Developer? We look forward to receiving your application as well as your salary expectations and earliest possible start date through our online application form. Cristal Ledesma would be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Apply and #stayhome! Due to the coronavirus outbreak, we switched our operations company-wide to home office and turned our hiring process into a fully virtual one. When hiring, we are also open for our new team members starting their work remotely at the time being or adjusting contract start dates accordingly. Stay home and safe!

InnoGames is Germany’s leading developer and publisher of mobile and online games. The company based in Hamburg is best known for Forge of Empires, Elvenar and Tribal Wars. InnoGames’ complete portfolio encompasses seven live games and several mobile titles in production.

Born as a hobby, InnoGames today has a team of 400 employees from more than 30 nations who share the passion of creating unique games that players across the globe enjoy for years. In order to further expand our success and to realize new projects, we are constantly looking for young talents, experienced professionals, and creative thinkers.

Interested? Apply here. 

Whether you’re just starting out, looking for something new, or just seeing what’s out there, the Gamasutra Job Board is the place where game developers move ahead in their careers.

Gamasutra’s Job Board is the most diverse, most active, and most established board of its kind in the video game industry, serving companies of all sizes, from indie to triple-A.

Looking for a new job? Get started here. Are you a recruiter looking for talent? Post jobs here.

In this 2017 GDC session, Blackbird Interactive’s Yossarian King breaks down the use of 2D simulations and 3D graphical presentations to create the visuals of Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak.

King goes over how off-the-shelf and custom particle systems, shaders, post-effects, and lighting were combined to achieve uniquely stylized visuals. 

It was an insightful talk that’s definitely still worth watching, so developers shouldn’t miss the opportunity to do so now that it’s freely available on the official GDC YouTube channel!

In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vault and its accompanying YouTube channel offers numerous other free videos, audio recordings, and slides from many of the recent Game Developers Conference events, and the service offers even more members-only content for GDC Vault subscribers.

Those who purchased All Access passes to recent events like GDC or VRDC already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscription via a GDC Vault subscription page. Group subscriptions are also available: game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company by contacting staff via the GDC Vault group subscription page. Finally, current subscribers with access issues can contact GDC Vault technical support.

There’s a battle brewing between Apple and Facebook over on the iOS store. According to The New York Times, Apple has rejected Facebook’s Facebook Gaming app for a fifth time since the social media network announced its existence in March. 

The Facebook Gaming app, which has already sailed into the Google Play Store, is supposed to be a dedicated hub for the casual games Facebook offers on its social network. But Apple appears to be strongly opposed to a dedicated app for their existence on its platform. 

The New York Times report includes some interesting data points about what Facebook has done to try and get on the App Store, and how Apple’s recent app-rejection is starting to draw the ire of antitrust regulators across the globe. What’s particularly notable is that Facebook already has a small hub for these games in its main Facebook app, but Apple has pushed back against the standalone app, citing Section 4.7 of its app rules. 

Section 4.7 allows apps that distribute HTML5 games, but requires that “code distribution is not the main purpose of the app,” and “The code is not offered in a store or store-like interface.” The latter restriction seems to agitating Facebook’s developers. It reports that in the company’s resubmissions, it’s stripped the design of the Facebook Gaming app further and further back to eventually just be a list of games, and yet Apple will not budge. 

The game industry is dominated by men, even though research shows ~50 percent of game players are women, and at GDC Summer this August attendees will have the chance to learn practical strategies for cultivating and supporting women in your own workplace.

Organizers are excited to welcome Avalanche Studios senior producer Victoria Setian to present a cutting-edge Production & Team Management track talk on “Changing the Game: Cultivating Female Talent in AAA Studios.” 

Setian is a game dev veteran, and she’ll give you practical, actionable advice on how to increase the female talent pool, nurture our current female developers, and support their growth into leadership roles via research-backed actions and programs.

You don’t want to miss this talk, because Setian will show you how changing the game starts with changing the way we run game projects and studios. Make time to come and hear how you can revamp your development practices with an eye towards a better future.

Register now for GDC Summer, scheduled to take place virtually August 4th through the 6th! For more details on what to expect visit the show’s official website, or subscribe to regular updates via Facebook, Twitter, or RSS.

Gamasutra and GDC are sibling organizations under parent company Informa Tech

The Sims 4 is proving that age is but a number after attracting over 2.5 million new players over the past two months. 

Despite being nearly six years old, Maxis’ popular lifestyle simulator also recorded a peak high of nearly 10 million daily active users over the past quarter. 

That number comes straight from publisher EA, which yesterday announced the title along with all of its post-launch content packs will be heading on Steam. 

That news alone is fairly notable, with EA having only recently decided to bring a handful of its titles back to Valve’s digital marketplace after years of skipping the platform in favor of its own Origin storefront.