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Twitch has been blocked in China

After rise in use due to the Asian Games, website is now inaccessible in much of the country and app is gone

After enjoying a surge in popularity last month due to large viewership of the Asian Games, it seems that Twitch has been blocked in China by government censors.

Abacus News reports that earlier this week, the website became inaccessible for the majority of users in mainland China (though some locations still had access). The app has also been removed from the region's dedicated App Store.

Twitch reached the No.3 spot on the free app charts during the Asian Games last month, in part due to state-run broadcasters opting not to show the events and leaving interested viewers to find other platforms to watch and cheer on their country's teams.

Chinese government regulation has made it a challenge for elements of the gaming industry from outside the country to get in. YouTube is blocked entirely in the country, and though Steam is partially accessible, Valve has considered a specially censored version of the platform for approval by government censors. Meanwhile, new game licenses for developers and publishers are still on a temporary freeze while the government reconsiders its approval process.

GamesIndustry.biz reached out to Twitch and did not receive a comment or reason for the block, but did receive confirmation that the service has indeed been blocked in China.

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Rebekah Valentine: Rebekah arrived at GamesIndustry in 2018 after four years of freelance writing and editing across multiple gaming and tech sites. When she's not recreating video game foods in a real life kitchen, she's happily imagining herself as an Animal Crossing character.
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