Twitch to cease operations in South Korea next year
Twitch is planning to shut down its streaming platform in South Korea next year.
In a blog post shared on Tuesday, CEO Dan Clancy announced that Twitch would close in the country on February 27, 2024, due to high operating costs.
Clancy shared that the company tried various tactics to reduce costs, such as adjusting source quality to 720p.
"While we have lowered costs from these efforts, our network fees in Korea are still ten times more expensive than in most other countries," he wrote.
"Unfortunately there is no pathway forward for our business to run more sustainably in that country."
As for South Korean-based Twitch streamers, Clancy shared that the platform is planning to help "move their communities to alternative live streaming services" and that it's "reaching out to several of these services to help with the transition and will communicate with impacted streamers as those discussions progress."
He added: "I want to reiterate that this was a very difficult decision and one we are very disappointed we have to make. Korea has always and will continue to play a special role in the international esports community and we are incredibly grateful for the communities they built on Twitch."
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