Livestreaming platform Noice, which uniquely allowed viewers to ‘play the stream, not just watch,’ is shutting down.
The platform raised $27m (£20m) in investment in 2023 but is now closing after a fruitless funding round last week.
Noice intended to increase viewer engagement by turning gaming streams into interactive, predictive card games in which viewers guessed what would happen next.
Additionally, last year Noice launched a rewards programme for UK and European streamers which gave high-performing streamers virtual items which would later be exchangeable for cash.
Noice CEO Tuomas Rinta announced the news via X (formerly Twitter), stating: “Noice will be closing its doors.
“It makes me extremely sad to announce that funding that we’ve been working all spring to secure fell through at the last moment, more specifically at the end of last week. We were hopeful that we would be able to close this funding round, but unfortunately the nature of this business is very unpredictable.
“I want to make it clear this decision was made only because we are forced to make it and we have worked every single day this spring to avoid this outcome.
“As Noice stops existing as a company, it means that unfortunately all employees of Noice will be laid off as well. It’s the worst outcome that we could have reached, and I want to reiterate what I said earlier – there is absolutely no other options left. I wish there were.”
Rinta also expressed his gratitude for Noice’s creators and viewers, saying “it feels such a waste to lose something that was so great.”
Many UK creators had previously signed up to stream on the platform, including Fnatic content creator Stallion, ZoeNova, and ItsCosmic.
Rinta says that there is no official date for when Noice will be shut down.
He insisted that the company will keep the streaming online for as long as possible but clarified the site could go down as early as this week.
In my seven years of esports writing, I’ve introuduced esports coverage to newspapers, interviewed some of the biggest names in the industry, and driven viewers mad with the puns in my YouTube scripts. I’m most proud of the latter.
