Michael ‘shroud’ Grzesiek, ex-CS:GO professional turned full-time Mixer streamer, has explained why ‘the long game’ should ultimately benefit Mixer in its battle against Twitch.
The debate over which streaming platform was most dominant would not have even existed a year ago. However, Mixer’s acquisition of Tyler ‘Ninja’ Blevins and shroud saw two of Twitch’s biggest names make the switch to Microsoft’s rival platform.
This led to a flurry of long-term contracts being penned in the streaming community. DrDisrespect and Pokimane pledged their future to Twitch, while CouRage moved over to YouTube. However, Twitch still appears to be comfortably in the lead in terms of popularity, despite the home of shroud and Ninja being elsewhere.
In a May 23 YouTube video, the Mixer streamer shared his thoughts on the battle between the two platforms. While he conceded that Mixer is still lagging behind, he stated that people just have to be more patient.
“Twitch has been around for longer, therefore there’s more people there,” he said. “So a lot of people don’t think of the long-con. They don’t think of the long play. They just think of the short-term play.”
While Twitch is undoubtedly more successful at the moment, it has been around for considerably longer than Mixer and so has an abundance of large personalities. The fact there are so many people on Twitch will be a discouraging factor when new streamers are starting up their accounts.
Timestamp – 3:20
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“So if you take Twitch and Mixer, of course Twitch right now is doing so good,” he went on, “and continuing to do so good. Because they have something. People who have started on Twitch 6 years ago, 5 years ago, 3 years ago… if they started that long ago, they probably have a good foundation.”
He explained that if you fast-forward two or three years, the “up-and-comers” on Mixer should have well-established followings, like the more common, older accounts on Twitch. New creators are more likely to start on Mixer now, because Twitch is so “over-saturated”.
“When you’re creating a streaming platform, you really just have to sit there, and f**king wait,” he finished. “Like, truly, that’s what you gotta do, and Microsoft’s perfect because Microsoft’s f**king huge. They have the resources to just sit there and wait… that’s how I know Mixer has a very very good chance to succeed.”
While Twitch remains the most dominant platform by a considerable distance, shroud maintains that his current home has an incredibly positive future, provided they are willing to wait for it to grow on its own.
