Twitch to Leave Korea in February Next Year Due to "Network Cost Issues"

Business Closure as of February 27, 2024

Live personal broadcasting platform Twitch announced on the 6th that it will cease operations in South Korea.

Through its official blog, Twitch stated, "We have decided to end Twitch business operations in South Korea as of February 27, 2024," adding, "After that date, Korean viewers will no longer be able to purchase Twitch paid products, and streamers will not be able to generate revenue through Twitch."

Twitch cited cost issues as the reason. The company said, "The operating costs in South Korea have reached a serious level," and added, "We tested a P2P model related to video quality and subsequently adjusted the maximum quality to 720p." It further explained, "Although we were able to reduce costs somewhat, due to network fees in South Korea being ten times higher than in other countries, it has become impossible to continue operations."

Attention has also turned to which company will fill the void left by Twitch, which has strengths in game streaming services. Naver is expected to launch a new game streaming service called Chijijik (CHZZK, tentative name) next year. It recently began a closed beta test (CBT) service for internal employees and plans to start an open beta test (OTB) service for game streamers on the 19th. It is known that the service will offer features such as full HD 1080p quality options and replay functions in the future.