The Korean streamer HAchubby has been on Twitch for five and a half years. At the end of February 2024, Twitch discontinued its services in Korea, leaving the streamer with an unusual farewell gift.
What’s the story behind the farewell? Like many other Korean content creators, streamer HAchubby was surprised in December 2023 by the news that Twitch would be shutting down its services in Korea. Previously, they had already discontinued the VoD feature: the server costs were simply too high.
HAchubby has been regularly streaming on Twitch since 2018. Her streams are aimed at an international audience: HAchubby speaks English and even adjusted her streaming times to reach American viewers.
With Twitch shutting down in Korea, HAchubby and several other Korean content creators faced the decision to start anew on another platform or leave the country to continue on Twitch.
On February 27, 2024, Twitch finally ceased its operations in Korea, bidding farewell with a small gift to some popular Korean streamers. However, the gift left HAchubby puzzled.
A Gift from the Past
What kind of gift was it? In her stream, HAchubby showed off merch she received from Twitch. Among the items was a cap in Twitch purple with the logo of the streaming platform, as well as a box of stickers, keychains, and other small items designed by Twitch.
However, among the gifts, it was a calendar that drew particular attention. As HAchubby flipped through it, she noticed that the calendar was from the year 2022 and thus not really useful anymore. She burst into loud laughter and exclaimed, “They gave me a 2022 calendar for Twitch closing Korea!”
What lies behind the gift? It seems that the Korean division of Twitch simply handed out old merchandise stock to leave the streamers with a memento. For example, the box of stickers originates from an event in 2021.
While the age of keychains and pens is a rather minor issue, the outdated calendar seems very curious.
On Reddit, where the clip was discussed in the streaming community r/LivestreamFail, some users see at least some use for the calendar: At least the gift provided content; with a current calendar, there likely wouldn’t have been such an entertaining clip.
Another user simply wrote: “My first thought was why someone would give a calendar to someone in March, but it was actually so much worse.”
What’s next for HAchubby? After HAchubby talked about her unclear future in December 2023, US streamer Mizkif reached out to her and offered to help her obtain a work visa.
Since then, the streamer has joined the content gang in Austin, Texas, and is currently planning her move to the States. This way, the streamer can continue to broadcast even after the end of Twitch Korea. At least until Twitch decides that the server costs are too high in the US as well: Asmongold finds out how much money he costs Twitch: “Then they must hate me”
