Microsoft’s streaming platform Mixer has nabbed another superstar from Amazon’s Twitch.
Michael “Shroud” Grzesiek, a former pro “Counter-Strike: Global Offensive” player, is joining Mixer as an exclusive streamer, and announced the move on Thursday with a Twitter video. It comes after Mixer previously landed exclusivity with Twitch’s former bigger streamer, Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, in August.
Grzesiek was one of the most popular streamers on Twitch, boasting 7 million followers. He’s best known for his streams of “Counter-Strike” and “PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds,” in addition to “Apex Legends,” “Call of Duty: Black Ops 4,” “Rainbow Six Siege,” “Fortnite” and others.
Grzesiek’s first stream on Mixer is set to kick off at 5 p.m. PT Thursday.
“Whether it was ‘Counter-Strike,’ ‘Apex Legends,’ ‘PUBG’ or all the games in between, livestreaming has allowed me to make a career doing what I love,” Grzesiek said in a statement. “Streaming is my passion and I owe my success to my fans who have helped me get to where I am now. Mixer provides the flexibility to center my attention around them. I am excited to join the Mixer community, as well as continue to build relationships with both players and fans.”
Blevins’ move to Mixer quickly proved a boon for the still fairly nascent platform. According to Streamlabs, Q3 of 2019 saw total hours streamed on Mixer rise by 188%, with unique channels doubling quarter-over-quarter from 1.95 million in Q2 to 3.9 million.