Twitch has been Banned in China

The announcement of the Chinese ban of twitch comes shortly after the 2018 Asian Games. It was the first time in the history of the Asian Games that esports were a part of the event. The popularity of esports has been growing over the last few years, especially in the Asian market. According to Abacus, a Hong Kong technology website, Chinese fans were upset that the state-run TV didn’t cover the event. This resulted in Chinese fans visiting Twitch, which made the streaming service the third most popular free app on the Chinese apple store.

The ban shouldn’t come as a surprise because there are many popular websites already banned in China. The Cyberspace Administration of China has banned Google, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter in the past. Shannon Liao of the Verge suggests that it was a cautionary measure, that authorities in China regularly apply to western media platforms that become popular.

Alternative Streaming options in China

China won’t be entirely in the dark from streaming video games. It has its own streaming services like ZhanQi TV and Panda TV. Which most of the significant events get covered by these two platforms or another platform called Douyu.

However, the issue arises for fans hoping to watch their favorite esports team compete at events that are exclusively streamed on Twitch or YouTube. Esports and its leagues are continually growing, and it won’t be long until an esport is exclusively streamed on only one platform.

It’ll be interesting to see if there is any backlash coming from this ban. Although, it does seem to be a regular occurrence for a western media outlet website to face a ban.