Twitch to shut down operations in Korea due to high costs

Twitch has announced that it will be ending its operations in South Korea on February 27, 2024. This decision comes after the platform has been operating at significant losses due to high local costs, particularly network fees in the country.

The company has made efforts to reduce costs by introducing solutions such as adjusting the maximum video quality to 720p, but these measures have not been sufficient. Twitch has stated that network fees in Korea are 10 times higher than in most other countries, making operations no longer feasible.

As a result of this decision, Korean viewers will no longer be able to purchase Twitch’s paid products and streamers in Korea will no longer be able to generate revenue through Twitch. This news has disappointed many Korean streamers who have invested time and effort into building their communities on the platform.

We understand that many Korean streamers rely on Twitch for their livelihood and we regret having to make this decision, but the high costs have made it unsustainable for us to continue operations in the country, states Twitch in an official blog post.

The announcement comes as a blow to the Korean streaming community, and it remains to be seen what alternative platforms they will turn to following Twitch’s exit from the Korean market.