Microsoft today announced that it’s renaming its Beam game streaming service to Mixer. The company says that this was a tough decision and not one that it made lightly. It was something that was decided as a team. The intention is to grow the platform into every major market in the world and the company felt that it couldn’t do that with the Beam moniker. It has also added some new game streaming features to Mixer.
Microsoft acquired the Beam game streaming service in August last year. It’s unclear whether it decided to rebrand the service after having some legal issues with the name, the company hasn’t provided precise details due to which it has rebranded the service.
The new features include the ability to combine four PC game streams into a single stream with split-screen views. This co-streaming feature is available to PC gamers starting today. Xbox Insiders will be able to try out this feature starting today before it’s rolled out to all console owners in the near future.
The company has also launched new Mixer Create apps for iOS and Android in beta. They have support for self-broadcasting and the company says that they will enable users to stream mobile games “soon.” When that feature goes live, users will be able to join co-streaming broadcasts with streamers on PC, consoles, and other mobile devices.
To showcase the importance that it attaches to this nascent game streaming platform, Microsoft will be live streaming its E3 2017 press conference on Mixer. Many will tune in as it’s due to properly unveil the Project Scorpio Xbox console, the most powerful Xbox it has ever made.