A few months back we wrote that [] that would make mobile streaming much easier and help the company take on Twitch, and that app is now live for both iOS and Android. Microsoft is betting on making streaming through its service a more interactive experience than a platform like Twitch by turning latency down to almost zero and by allowing viewers to influence gameplay. Specifically, Mixer will offer very low latency, which should make streamer-viewer communication much better; gone are the ten second delays you have to deal with on Twitch.
While that might not sound like a big deal, the delay is actually quite annoying. For instance, I often stream Telltale games on our Twitch channel, and I want to get the viewers involved in the choices I have to make. However, I can't do it because of the latency. In addition to the low latency streams, Mixer Create also lets you combine your stream with up to three other mobile, PC, or Xbox One streamers into a single viewing experience, which should be fun for multiplayer games.
Now for the bad news. If you're planning on streaming iOS games, keep in mind that you can only do so with games that support Apple's ReplayKit, and there really aren't many of those. If you're on Android, you can stream any game you want, but iOS is an enclosed garden, so there are always restrictions. ReplayKit has been around for a while now, and Mobcrush has been successfully using it. Still, it hasn't seen widespread adoption, but maybe Mixer being around will push more developers to add ReplayKit functionality (although I wouldn't hold my breath). If you want to try Mixer out, download Mixer Create to stream or Mixer [] if you just want to watch other people's streams.
While that might not sound like a big deal, the delay is actually quite annoying. For instance, I often stream Telltale games on our Twitch channel, and I want to get the viewers involved in the choices I have to make. However, I can't do it because of the latency. In addition to the low latency streams, Mixer Create also lets you combine your stream with up to three other mobile, PC, or Xbox One streamers into a single viewing experience, which should be fun for multiplayer games.
Now for the bad news. If you're planning on streaming iOS games, keep in mind that you can only do so with games that support Apple's ReplayKit, and there really aren't many of those. If you're on Android, you can stream any game you want, but iOS is an enclosed garden, so there are always restrictions. ReplayKit has been around for a while now, and Mobcrush has been successfully using it. Still, it hasn't seen widespread adoption, but maybe Mixer being around will push more developers to add ReplayKit functionality (although I wouldn't hold my breath). If you want to try Mixer out, download Mixer Create to stream or Mixer [] if you just want to watch other people's streams.