In a recent release written by Dan Clancy, the CEO of Twitch, it was revealed that the popular streaming platform will cease operating in Korea as of February 27, 2024. It was stressed that the cost of operating Twitch in Korea is exorbitantly expensive, thanks to the bandwidth rates that are massively more costly in Korea than in many other countries around the world.
‘Ten Times More Expensive’
In Dan Clancy’s blog post, it was stated that it’s ‘ten times more expensive’ to run a network in Korea than it is in ‘most other countries’. It was made clear that this is a last resort and that Twitch has worked on several initiatives to keep the platform afloat in the country, but nothing has panned out as they’d have liked.
For instance, Twitch tried adjusting the source quality of streams, locking them to a maximum resolution of 720p. The streaming giant also tried experimenting with a ‘peer-to-peer’ model, which was mostly unsuccessful.
Now, it’s time to pull the last straw and move out of Korea entirely. In Dan Clancy’s words:
We will work to help Twitch streamers in Korea move their communities to alternative livestreaming services in Korea. We are also reaching out to several of these services to help with the transition and will communicate with impacted streamers as those discussions progress.
I want to reiterate that this was a very difficult decision and one we are very disappointed we had 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.
On Twitter, user ‘Knoebel’ shared an image that showcased just how expensive bandwidth is in Korea. It revealed average rates that positively dwarfed the cost of bandwidth in countries like Japan and the United States.
Will you be impacted by Twitch pulling out of Korea?
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