Mixer co-founders Matt Salsamendi and James J. Boehm both left the live streaming company over the past two weeks, at a time when the service is undergoing some of its biggest changes to date.

Boehm announced his departure from Mixer on October 2nd, with Salsamendi following suit yesterday. The pair launched Mixer, known as Beam at the time, in January 2016. Microsoft acquired the company just months later, in August 2016. It was then renamed Mixer in 2017.

While Boehm didn’t announce what his next steps were, Salsamendi used his farewell letter on Twitter to talk about his next journey — in “lasers.”

“For as long as I can remember, I’ve been fascinated with the idea of using light to represent music,” Salsamendi wrote. “Growing up I dreamed of running lighting for EDM festivals and tours, and I want to pursue that passion in a bigger way.”

Their departure comes at a time when Mixer is making bigger splashes than ever in the gaming industry. Mixer has become the third largest streaming service (just behind Google-owned YouTube and Amazon-owned Twitch). Through Microsoft, the streaming service has also started working on partnerships with popular streamers, including Tyler “Ninja” Blevins. Mixer went from being a lesser-known streaming service to one of the most watched platforms after Blevins announced in August that he was leaving Twitch, his home for many years, to exclusively stream on Mixer going forward.

Salsamendi and Boehm’s departures aren’t the only prominent names leaving Microsoft, either. Mike Ybarra, a longtime Xbox executive, is leaving the company after 20 years of working with various divisions.

“It’s been a great ride at Xbox and the future is bright,” Ybarra tweeted on October 9th. “Thanks to everyone at TeamXbox, I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve accomplished and I wish you the best.”

https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/11/20909722/mixer-cofounders-leave-microsoft-streaming-ninja-twitch-youtube-xbox