Twitch blocked in China
Another bad news from China. Twitch no longer works in China: the website is unavailable, the app in the regional App Store is also unavailable.
According to the Abacus publication, Twitch confirmed the blocking in China.
The closure occurred a month after the rise in popularity of the service among Chinese users. The mobile version of Twitch was in the Top 3 most downloaded iOS apps in the country in August. This was primarily due to the broadcasts from the 2018 Asian Games esports event in Indonesia, which was not covered by regional channels.
According to Chinese users cited by Abacus, the ban may be due to a number of factors. The most obvious one is the lack of freedom of speech in the country. And it would be strange if Twitch continued to work in the region at the same time. There is also a campaign underway in the country to tighten the regulation of gaming. Closing Twitch in this context is a logical step. Another reason could be the behavior of the Chinese users themselves, who behaved very provocatively (especially towards players from South Korea).
It is unlikely that the ban was a strong blow for Twitch. The Chinese market has never been the main one for the platform. And the work of the service itself, whose DAU is 15 million, was not of high quality in the Middle Kingdom.
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