Microsoft acquires Beam livestreaming service for Xbox

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Microsoft has announced that it has acquired the Beam livestreaming service. Beam not only allows viewers the ability to watch other gamers, but also to play along in real-time. The company is hoping that bringing the Beam team into the Xbox fold will be a big step towards continuing to make Xbox Live more social and fun. Some examples mentioned by Microsoft include being able to play along with and challenge your favourite Minecraft streamer by making real-time choices that affect gameplay, or watching Sea of Thieves drama unfold between different crews in real-time from multiple perspectives.

“We at Xbox are excited about this convergence between playing and watching, and want to provide gamers with the freedom and choice to have great multiplayer experiences across all of Beam’s platforms,” wrote Chad Gibson, Partner Group Manager for Xbox Live. “This acquisition will help gamers enjoy the games they want, with the people they want, and on the devices they want.”

A relatively new company, Beam launched on January 5th and the company is hoping to be able to scale faster than they have previously in the past as they join Team Xbox within the Microsoft Engineering group.

“As part of the Xbox team, we’ll be able to scale faster than we’ve ever been able to before,” wrote Beam CEO Matt Salsamendi. “We’re expanding the team, bolstering our infrastructure, and, most importantly, continuing to grow the amazing community we’ve been lucky enough to build at Beam.”

It will be interesting to see where Microsoft takes Beam and the Xbox, especially considering there’s some pretty decent Twitch integration already on the Xbox One. Check out Larry Hryb’s (a.k.a. Major Nelson) chat with Matt Salsamendi about the acquisition.

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What do you think about Microsoft’s acquisition of the Beam livestreaming service? What do you hope to see Microsoft do with Beam on the Xbox? Let us know in the comments below, or on Google+, Twitter, or Facebook.

[button link=”http://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2016/08/11/microsoft-acquires-beam-interactive-livestreaming-service/#sm.00000gnvmz4ncvcylvqib9p2bjlr7″ icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: Microsoft[/button][button link=”https://blog.beam.pro/its-just-the-beginning/” icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: Beam[/button][button link=”http://news.xbox.com/2016/08/11/microsoft-acquires-beam/” icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Via: Xbox Wire[/button]
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