Mixtape is now out, but don’t be surprised if you don’t see many streams or VODs of it out in the wild. That’s because it doesn’t have a streamer mode, which means Twitch and YouTube playthroughs will struggle to gain any monetization due to licensing issues.
Developer Beethoven & Dinosaur has a very good reason for this, though, because simply put, Mixtape is nothing without its soundtrack full of pop songs.
In a statement released on social media, Beethoven & Dinosaur said: “We’ve got a few questions about why Mixtape has no streamer mode. It’s a fair question. Mixtape is about music. It’s about Devo. It’s about the Smashing Pumpkins, and Lush, and Alice Coltrane. It’s about how you feel when you listen to Iggy Pop.”
“The characters talk about the songs,” the post continues. “The levels are designed around the songs. We couldn’t change the songs. We couldn’t replace them. We just couldn’t.”
The Australian developer signed off with a final message, apologising in a way fitting of the game; via a song lyric. “If you wanted to stream Mixtape and cannot because of this, we are truly sorry, but as David Gray says in Shine, ‘Your soul is the one thing you can’t compromise,’ and music is the soul of Mixtape.”
A note from BnD about streaming. pic.twitter.com/eu71bvvaUz
— MIXTAPE by Beethoven & Dinosaur (@bnd_studio) May 7, 2026
Having played Mixtape myself, I wholeheartedly agree. The song choice is integral to the experience, with each chapter of its story perfectly matched to the style and dialogue with which they’re paired. Simply replacing these songs with generic music would not work and take too much away from it. Trust me, though, it’s best played for yourself, anyway.
You can check out my 10/10 review of Mixtape here, where I called it “a musical delight from start to finish that sets a new standard for coming-of-age stories in games.”
Simon Cardy is a Senior Editor at IGN who can mainly be found skulking around open world games, indulging in Korean cinema, or despairing at the state of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets. Follow him on Bluesky at @cardy.bsky.social.
