Twitch announced the closure of its operations in Coreaa step dictated, according to what the Amazon-owned company reports, by Korean network tariffs.
Twitch shuts down in Korea, blames network fees
The Twitch platform officially communicated the decision through a post on the company’s blog, in which it underlined that Twitch operations in Korea will end starting from February 27, 2024underlining the prohibitive cost associated with the management of the service in that country.
Twitch he attributed this move primarily to the high network tariffs established by local laws. South Korea has implemented legislation requiring principals content providers to pay for the use of the country’s networks. A practice which, according to Twitch, has made Twitch’s operation in Korean territory onerous and no longer sustainable.
Despite attempts to reduce costs, for example by limiting video quality to 720pthe company stated that the network tariffs in the country they were 10 times higher compared to most other states. He therefore decided to stop his activities.
The consequences for the public
The consequences of this decision are significant: the Korean spectators they will no longer be able to perform acquisitions on the platform after the closing date. Furthermore, the streamer they will not be able to generate revenue via the platform after February 27.
Twitch, however, has expressed its intention to negotiate with alternative services for the possible migration of Twitch communities. Additionally, the platform said it waives the terms related to simultaneous transmissionthus allowing the interested creators to share links to their new streaming channels and platforms.