In a surprising move, the popular live-streaming platform Twitch has decided to end its services in Korea early next year.
In a blog post, CEO Dan Clancy announced Twitch will shut down its business in Korea, effective February 27, 2024, due to the cost of operating in the country.
"Ultimately, the cost to operate Twitch in Korea is prohibitively expensive and we have spent significant effort working to reduce these costs so that we could find a way for the Twitch business to remain in Korea. First, we experimented with a peer-to-peer model for source quality. Then, we adjusted source quality to a maximum of 720p," Clancy explained. "While we have lowered costs from these efforts, our network fees in Korea are still 10 times more expensive than in most other countries. Twitch has been operating in Korea at a significant loss, and unfortunately, there is no pathway forward for our business to run more sustainably in that country."
Clancy further commented in a post on X/Twitter that the decision "was very difficult" and that the company delayed the decision "for some time."
I wanted to quickly send my thoughts out to the Korean streamers that are impacted by the decision we have announced today. As I stated in the blog and in the live stream, this was a very difficult decision that we delayed for some time. I just wanted to send out my thoughts to…
— Daniel Clancy (@djclancy999) December 6, 2023
A support page for the announcement also reveals a timeline of how the shutdown will occur, and confirms that on February 27, streamers who listed Korea as their country of residence during the onboarding process won't be able to leverage monetization features offered through Twitch products, with the final payout date set for March 16 for those affected. According to the support page, any Twitch Affiliates and Partners based in Korea will be off-boarded from Twitch on June 4.
Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.
