Twitch to shut down in South Korea – operating costs up to 10x higher than other regions 

Twitch has announced that it will be shutting down its services in South Korea as of February 2024 due to “prohibitively expensive” operating costs. Details behind the decision were revealed via the official Twitch blog on December 5. 

South Korea has already seen disputes between large content platforms and network providers regarding the payment of network fees. One example is the legal dispute between Netflix and South Korean internet provider SK Broadband. Netflix had filed a lawsuit against the provider in response to being requested to pay expenses to cover surges in streaming traffic. In turn, SK Broadband filed a lawsuit of their own, and the dispute was prolonged (Nikkei Crosstech). Now, both parties have dropped the lawsuit, and a mutual agreement has been reached (Reuters). 

Along with the announcement, Twitch also informed users outside of Korea about the effects of the shutdown. Streamers who reside outside of Korea and have a large viewership from Korea will be informed by Twitch of the impact to their revenue. 

On its official blog, Twitch stated that the decision was a difficult one and thanked the Korean streamers for their contribution to building a community on Twitch. For Korean Twitch streamers, the company is currently in contact with several other live-streaming services and will support them in making a smooth transition. 

The official Twitch blog entry refers to the shutdown as a difficult decision and “extremely disappointing news,” and expresses gratitude to Korean streamers for their contributions to Twitch communities so far. Twitch will apparently make efforts to help Twitch streamers in Korea move their communities to alternative livestreaming services in Korea. 

Written by. Amber V based on the original Japanese article (original article’s publication date: 2023-12-06 13:27 JST)