Twitch announces that it's exiting the South Korean market, where it reports internet fees are ten times higher than anywhere else in world.
Ultimately, the cost to operate Twitch in Korea is prohibitively expensive and we have spent significant effort working to reduce these costs so that we could find a way for the Twitch business to remain in Korea. First, we experimented with a peer-to-peer model for source quality. Then, we adjusted source quality to a maximum of 720p. While we have lowered costs from these efforts, our network fees in Korea are still 10 times more expensive than in most other countries. Twitch has been operating in Korea at a significant loss, and unfortunately there is no pathway forward for our business to run more sustainably in that country.
The problem seems to be a mix of factors—there's only a handful of internet service providers (little competition), no net neutrality (extorbitant costs) and a generally bizarre regulatory and legislative environment. Perhaps a taste of things to come in the West as its public sphere rots and The Dork Enlightement sets in.
