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The League of Legends community is set to face a setback as livestreaming platform giant Twitch announced its plans to shut down services in South Korea starting February 27, 2024. Dan Clancy, the company's CEO, revealed the high operating costs of maintaining the platform as one of the biggest reasons Twitch took a step back from the South Korean livestreaming industry, which already has other platforms like AfreecaTV.
This sudden news carries many questions about the future of South Korea's League of Legends status on Twitch. Numerous Twitch streamers play the game regularly, and esports leagues such as the LCK are frequently streamed on the platform. The shutting down of Twitch puts these broadcasts in jeopardy and has garnered a lot of attention from the game's community.
One user on a popular Reddit post in the game's subreddit put forth their concerns on the future of LoL Esports tournaments based in Korea:
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"What does this mean for stuff like Riot Korea and broadcasting the LCK?"
League of Legends community left puzzled after Twitch's announcement to stop services in South Korea
The League of Legends community is uncertain about the game's future presence on Twitch. Many high-ranked players on the Korean server often stream their games on the platform, including some notable pro players like Nemesis and content creators such as LS.
The latter also spoke about the situation and his future on Twitch while sharing his heartfelt sentiments to all the creators affected by this change.
The Reddit post on the same topic gained much traction, with a lot of discussion surrounding the potential implications of this change on the viewing availability of leagues like the LCK for Western audiences. The top-voted comment mentioned earlier in the article echoes a lot of people's worries at the moment.
A follow-up to the original comment does provide an excellent alternative option that already exists, which is the livestream that the LCK available on YouTube:
While this does mean that audiences from across the world can view the League of Legends LCK, the essence and community that it had built on Twitch cannot be replicated due to the unique experience Twitch chat provides emotes and running gags done by the LCK English commentary team, often becoming memes.
Ultimately, this is a massive shift and a shock for Twitch streamers based in South Korea. The efforts these streamers had to take to build up their community from scratch will all come crumbling down in a couple of months, making it very unfortunate and heartbreaking.
Twitch's shutting down services in South Korea will surely leave a sizeable blow to the western League of Legends community, which often looks up to the region for its pristine gameplay and incredible mechanics.
With fewer options to view popular streams and potential bootcamps during international events, the LoL Esports scene in South Korea may reduce visibility to a global audience.
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