Twitch to end business & operations in Korea

Published , by TJ Denzer

Twitch CEO Dan Clancy has announced that the company is shutting down business and operations in Korea in late February. This will result in Twitch services becoming unavailable in the country, and partnered Twitch streamers being dropped. Clancy has said that the main reasoning behind the shutdown is prohibitive costs of running Twitch in Korea, which he also claims are substantially higher than in most other regions.

Clancy shared the full statement on Twitch’s shutdown in Korea in a press release posted on the Twitch website on December 5, 2023. According to Clancy, the company tried to hold out and find solutions to sustain the company’s presence in Korea, but to little success:

Twitch's shutdown in Korea means everything from the mobile app to livestreaming services will shut down in the country with it.
Source: Twitch

Ultimately, this also means that Twitch streamers in Korea will have to find a new home. For partnered Twitch streamers, the company claims it will work to help them transition to new platforms if it can:

It's a rough situation to be sure, but one Twitch claims is unique to Korea. Having pulled support for Twitch on Nintendo Switch recently, it seems Twitch is looking to cut some costs and Korea was unfortunately next on the slate. Stay tuned as we follow for further updates on this story.