Microsoft's major update to Beam leaves beta, is now available globally

Microsoft purchased Twitch competitor, interactive livestreaming service Beam, in the Summer of 2016. Since then, the company has released a major update as part of a beta trial. Now, according to Beam founder Matt Salsamendi, that update is now live and available globally.

(low key, announce coming at a later date) Beam2 is now live globally! An entirely new Beam frontend– https://t.co/aebkOnpGC4

— Matt (@MattSalsamendi) January 18, 2017

The update, brings about a brand new home page and player, improved video quality and Xbox Live sign-ins.

There’s a new HTML5-only player allows playback at up to 10Mbps at a resolution of 1440p at 60fps. In addition to this, you can now sign in with your Xbox Live account, a feature with will eventually be less a choice and more like mandatory. This will allow a more streamlined way to access the service. On top of all of this, the site is also said to load up to 5 times faster.

On the new homepage, users will have the ability to schedule and feature multiple broadcasters and events, as well as the access to featured mature content for those who are authenticated (over the age of 18).

Beam 2.0, as it being called, has improved deep chat, dealing with network hiccups with ease, and features a new and improved polling UI. Users can also now see what your emote messages look like before sending, and click and drag a person’s username.

Closing everything out is a new logo for the streaming service. While users enjoy this new update, 2017 has more in store for the service, including hybrid applications for mobile, an the aforementioned Xbox One app for the service, and updates to the proprietary FTL streaming protocol.