As a result of the extreme operating costs, Twitch announced they were withdrawing from the South Korean market. In a statement released this morning, Twitch apologized to the South Korean streamers who were making money using their service. Starting February 27, 2024, revenue can no longer be generated by Twitch streamers in those countries and purchases will also be discontinued.
Twitch Korea is urging streamers to move to alternative streaming platforms such as YouTube and AfreecaTV. Various efforts have been made in the past to reduce costs such as limiting streaming quality to only 720p. However, the cost of operating using the internet network in Korea is 10 times higher than in other markets, causing the company's operations to no longer continue.
Unlike other countries, South Korea asks for a fee from the service company to cover the cost of monitoring the internet infrastructure in case of high traffic. In 2021, internet service provider SK Broadand sued Netflix due to increased internet usage due to Squid Game. This case was only settled out of court last September with Netflix collaborating with SK Broadband by sharing technology that can be used to manage high traffic.