Twitch seems to want to make a comeback in India after its not-so-successful previous attempt where it exited the country in 2018. But now it seems to be making an organized effort to be back in the country along with multiple others.
Twitch launched its dedicated India servers earlier this year in February which was a hint that the company may be looking to enter the country again. And in the regional pricing for multiple countries, the company has announced that India is part of this list.
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This new regional pricing is a bid to ensure that subscriptions are fair in countries around the world where it has a market presence. The regional pricing is set to hit “most countries in Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe starting in Q3 2021.”
In its blog post, the company mentions that "The price of a Tier 1 subscription on the web is roughly the equivalent of $4.99 USD in every country. This price makes it difficult for many viewers to support their favorite creators, and likewise, prevents creators from being able to grow their communities, make more content, and welcome new fans."
It goes on to clarify that while North American creators get a lot of subscriptions from active users there, the case is almost 50% lower for European and Asian countries. While in Latin American that is almost 80% less. And regional pricing will pave the way forward to solving this issue.
Another blog on the Twitch website mentions India in the list of countries getting regional pricing, which is again a strong indication of the upcoming presence of the company in the country.
According to a report by IGN India, Abhishek Aggarwal, Co-Founder and CEO of Trinity Gaming, is of the opinion that Twitch's re-entry into India may be a tad late. "People tend to go to that platform that is more diversified in terms of content," says Aggarwal, referring to the fact that Twitch is essentially a gaming-focussed service.
These platforms [Facebook and YouTube] are not dedicated to gaming,” he says. “They have different genres available for example entertainment and cooking to name a few. Naturally these platforms have a better engagement compared to gaming platforms like Loco or for that matter if Twitch comes to India in the future.”
But then again, we would have to wait and watch what strategy Twitch applies to a country like India.
