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Twitch's website is no longer accessible in mainland China and the application has quietly disappeared from the App Store, according to Abacus News, an English-language digital publication focused on technology and China.
A representative from Twitch confirmed that the service is blocked in an email addressed to Variety on Friday morning, but did not explain why. Abacus said that this initiative comes just a month after the soaring popularity of the application, becoming the third most popular free application of the Chinese version of the Apple App Store .
A large number of Chinese esports fans have apparently flooded the service to watch the latest Asian Games. It was the first time that sports were included in the international sporting event. It was presented as a demonstration sport, which means that medals won in matches were not counted in the official medal count.
Twitch is arguably the most popular destination for streaming video games. Last year, it had more than 15 million unique visitors a day who watched about 355 billion minutes of video. This is partly due to the massive popularity of Epic Games "Fortnite" Royal Battle title and best broadcaster Tyler "Ninja" Blevins, who is the first person to reach 10 million followers on the platform.
Twitch's reach in China was limited because it was much slower in the interior of the country, according to Abacus.
China is currently the world's largest video gaming market, valued at more than $ 25 billion in 2016, according to a report by IHS Markit. It would account for a quarter of all the money generated by video games around the world.
The relationship between China and the Internet remains tense, as the country has strict control over what its citizens can access.
Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt recently predicted that the internet could split into two separate networks, one in China and the other in the rest of the world.
"I think the most likely scenario is no longer a split but rather a fork in a China-led Internet and a non-Chinese Internet run by America," Schmidt said at a private event on Wednesday. , according to CNBC.
Schmidt hinted at the problems of a broken Internet run by the agendas of individual governments.
"With these products and services, there is a real danger that a leadership regime different from that of the government, with censorship, controls, etc.," says Schmidt.
Google has recently come under significant pressure due to leaked plans to introduce a censored version of its search engine in China, resulting in some resignations of Google staff.
In response to the question of whether technology companies are doing enough good, Mr Schmidt said that it was important to listen to the outside views.
"The judge is of others, not us." Said Schmidt. "Self-referential conversations about" Do I feel good about what I'm doing? "are not very useful.The judge is outside."
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