Twitch to shut down in Korea over ‘prohibitively expensive’ network fees

💔 Twitch will shut down its operations in South Korea on February 27 due to the “prohibitively expensive” nature of operating in one of the largest esports markets.

🌐 Despite efforts to reduce network costs, operating in Korea was still 10 times more expensive than in most other countries.

🔄 Twitch experimented with a peer-to-peer model and limited source quality to 720p to cut costs, but it wasn’t enough to sustain operations.

💸 The Amazon-owned streaming service has been running at a “significant loss” in Korea, with no viable path to sustainable business in the country.

🇰🇷 The decision is described as a “unique situation,” and it’s unclear why network fees are exceptionally high in South Korea, though there might be a connection to recent discussions about requiring tech companies to cover network costs.

😢 Twitch CEO Dan Clancy expressed disappointment over the difficult decision, acknowledging Korea’s special role in the international esports community and expressing gratitude for the communities built on Twitch.

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