Streaming platform Twitch has announced that it is shutting down its business in South Korea at the end of February because it is “prohibitively expensive” to operate in the country.

In a blog post Dan Clancy, Twitch’s chief executive, said that the company had experimented with various ways to lower costs including adjusting source quality to a maximum of 720p.

But network fees in South Korea are ten times more expensive than in other countries, he said, and the company has been operating at a significant loss which is no longer sustainable.

Clancy emphasised that this was a “unique situation” to the country and added that the company had been open about this challenge for some time.

He acknowledged that Twitch streamers had put time and effort into building communities and said the company was working with other services to help streamers move their communities to other platforms.

“I want to reiterate that this was a very difficult decision and one we are very disappointed we had to make,” wrote Clancy. “Korea has always and will continue to play a special role in the international esports community and we are incredibly grateful for the communities they built on Twitch.”

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