Twitch shuts down in Korea

Twitch ceased operations in South Korea in February 2024, citing prohibitively high network-fee regulations — one of Twitch's largest regional withdrawals and a stark indicator of the platform's cost pressures.

On February 27, 2024, Twitch officially shut down its service in South Korea after pre-announcing the exit in December 2023. The stated reason was that South Korea’s “network usage fee” regulation — which imposes paid-peering obligations on foreign platforms — made operations in the country structurally unprofitable. Korean creators and audiences migrated to Kick, YouTube Live, and local platforms like Chzzk (Naver’s streaming service launched to fill the gap) and SOOP (formerly AfreecaTV).