Twitch CEO Dan Clancy has commented on the restriction of stream quality to 720p for users in Russia. He stated that the company does not intend to leave the country, but the current decision is a result of economic difficulties caused by sanctions imposed by the U.S. government.
Due to the implemented restrictions, Twitch is unable to generate revenue in the region, making continued operation in the Russian market financially unsustainable. According to Clancy, the reduction in quality was a necessary measure taken to optimize costs.
We have no plans to leave Russia, we plan to continue working in it, so this is a different situation compared to what happened in Korea. Russia is a problem because of sanctions, so this is not a Twitch decision, but decisions we must adhere to, based on government rules and requirements.
We hope that sanctions will be settled over time, and then we can orient ourselves more strongly towards Russia. This [quality restriction] is not necessarily a long-term solution, but it had to be considered, as it was an important factor in the economics of running the site.
As of June 23, Twitch users in Russia observed a reduced number of options for selecting video quality. Instead of the familiar 1080p, only the option to enable 720p remained available.
Finley Holt