Twitch Finally Lowers Subscription Prices Around The World

Livestreaming service Twitch has announced that subscription prices will be dropping globally. The change will be applying to all regions, although some will get the lowered prices earlier. It will also apply to all tiers.

Twitch was launched in 2011 as a gaming-focused streaming platform. Since then, it’s expanded to include music, art, and some real life content. Viewers are able to follow streamers for free. However, subscribing costs money, unlike fellow video site YouTube. A Tier 1 subscription, which includes access to special emotes and other benefits, costs $4.99 US per month. Those with Prime Gaming can subscribe to one channel for free each month.  The price was static and uniform worldwide, meaning it cost everyone $4.99 USD to subscribe, regardless of local exchange rates.

However, that price will be changing in many regions. Twitch has announced via its blog that “Local Sub Pricing” will be expanding to streamers and viewers across the globe. The August 5th update makes changes to prices throughout Europe, with the goal of each being equivalent to 3.99 EUR. Foreign exchange rates are included in this formula. The first two countries to receive Local Sub Pricing were Morocco and Turkey, which were both given lower prices on May 2oth. The project was well-received by both streamers and viewers. According to the blog, streamers saw more sub revenue than three months prior. Gift subs were also bought five times more than previously.

As of this writing, countries in Latin America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa have had their prices adjusted. All are designed to reflect the current cost of living in their respective country. No changes to North American pricing have been announced at this time. It’s not an impossibility, though. The welcome reception and global rollout could extend to the US and Canada in the future if fans request it enough.

It’s a bit surprising that it took Twitch this long to adjust these prices. Most forms of entertainment set their prices based on the regional equivalent of the American price. This is especially true for the video game industry – Twitch’s biggest audience. Local Sub Pricing had been requested for quite some time. This isn’t the first time Twitch has paid attention to its community, however; following the removal of the platform’s PogChamp emote, the content creators whose likenesses were used as replacements found themselves facing backlash from other users on the site, earning a swift response from Twitch. The integration of regional pricing is a much more conciliatory change, and one which will hopefully set a precedent for good relations between Twitch and its user base.

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Source: Twitch.tv, Twitch Support/Twitter

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