Microsoft has gone ahead and changed the name of Beam, its popular streaming service, to Mixer, citing trademark issues that it would have run into internationally with the Beam name as the reason for the change.

“We believe so much in the power of the platform and want to grow it in every major market around the world,” said Co-founder Matt Salsamendi. “Unfortunately, that wasn’t something we could do with the Beam name. We chose Mixer as our new name because it represents what we love most about the service….how it brings people together.”

The name change accompanies many new features added to the service, including co-streaming, which lets you and a friend stream at once, as well as mobile game streaming functionality. New social features, including a central hub that is dynamically updating with details on eSports and Mixer updates, are also a part of this update.

It should be interesting to see if all of this helps Microsoft take some marketshare away from Twitch, YouTube, and uStream.

The Microsoft Xbox One has had a bit of a resurgent 2016, especially in the second half of this year. While most people believe it’s still not selling as many consoles as the PS4, the Xbox One S has certainly helped things. Microsoft has even claimed this console is the best-selling model in the United States.

Now it appears Microsoft has doubled down on its success. During Microsoft’s Windows event yesterday, the company announced it’s about ready to integrate the Beam service. This service is said to allow users to watch live game streams and interact in “near real-time” with broadcasters according.

Basically, this will work quite a bit like Twitch, though it will be native to Windows 10 and Xbox One devices. The other feature that was detailed Arena on Xbox Live. This service will allow users to set a tournament’s style, as well as define the rules for those tournament, invite friends and track tournament progress across XBL or Windows 10. Furthermore, the company also announced that Bitstream Audio Pass which supports Dolby Atmos was coming soon to Xbox One.

Beam, an “interactive livestreaming service”, has been acquired by Microsoft. Chad Gibson, partner group manager for Xbox Live, noted how this would help bridge the gap between playing games and watching them side by side.

“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. This acquisition will help gamers enjoy the games they want, with the people they want, and on the devices they want.”

An example of how Beam could be used with Microsoft services includes a Minecraft streamer providing challenges to viewers via video controls. In Sea of Thieves, Beam could be used to watch actions play out across different perspectives. It sounds interesting though how it will ultimately be implemented remains to be seen.

What are your thoughts on Microsoft acquiring Beam? Let us know in the comments.