China blocks Twitch

Last month, Twitch popularity surged in China thanks to the streaming service's coverage of eSports events during the Asian Games. So many Chinese people flocked to the service that the iOS Twitch app surged to third spot in the free app charts. However, the service and its app are now blocked in China.

As Abacus reports, Twitch confirmed the block is in place meaning the Twitch website can't be accessed and no streaming can be initiated or watched in China. The Twitch app has also been removed from the App Store there. We don't know what triggered the block by the Chinese authorities, and if Twitch knows it isn't telling anyone yet.

The block is thought to have happened earlier this week when users noticed the website wasn't loading. Now the block is confirmed, Chinese users are angry and have started guessing as to the reason why it happened. The most compelling of those is a link to the Chinese government's more general crackdown on gaming in the country.

Early this year, the Chinese authorities stopped approving new games for sale. Then it was announced online gaming would be limited with the reason/excuse being a bid to save children's eyesight. Since then, real name sharing and time limits linked to age have become a feature of online games with publisher Tencent implementing the requirements first.

It may be the case that the Chinese government realized children unable to play online games, or who had used up their allotted time playing them, could load up Twitch and watch someone else playing instead. That could be viewed as breaking the rules and initiated the service block.

We need Twitch to explain what the specific reasons are, but I'm sure the service is trying to remove the block if that's at all possible. Could Twitch also end up requiring real name sharing as part of account logins?