Twitch has long charged $4.99 for a Tier 1 subscription and roughly converted that price into other currencies. For years, therefore, other countries either paid significantly more for a month's subscription or paid an unusually high amount compared to the local cost of living, and Twitch is finally trying to address this price disparity and level the playing field by introducing local subscription fees.

Mexico and Turkey are the first countries to receive pricing that more closely reflects local costs of living. Tier 1 subscriptions will be 48 pesos (about $2.42) and 9.90 Turkish lira (about $1.19). Most countries in Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe will move to local pricing later this year, and Twitch has provided a full list of countries where the new prices will apply. According to the report, prices will be reduced in "most countries outside the United States."

According to Twitch, there is a large disconnect between active subscribers in the US and subscribers in other parts of the world behind the local subscription pricing, and the translated $4.99 price makes it "difficult for many viewers" to invest money in subscriptions The $4.99 price translated makes it "difficult for many viewers" to invest money in subscriptions, he said. Twitch explained the change on its blog, saying, "This isn't just anecdotal, it's clearly reflected in the numbers." 'The percentage of active users in Europe and Asia who support creators with subscriptions is roughly 50% lower than in North America. In Latin America, it is nearly 80% lower."

While this is good news for standard viewers, Twitch anticipates a backlash from creators who may see a decrease in revenue with this change." Twitch will cover 100% of baseline channel and prime sub revenue (if required) for three calendar months, including the month of the price change. It will then reduce the incentive by 25% every three months for the next nine months.

Basically, Twitch calculates the average monthly revenue for each creator. If earnings fall below that during this change period, Twitch will cover the entire loss for the first three months and then draw down payments throughout the year.

It is great that Twitch is finally offering local pricing, but this took a very long time. Local pricing is something Steam has offered for years, and if you look at the SteamDB page for "PUBG" you will see how the cost varies from country to country. Sooner or later, I guess.

Twitch has recently made some changes to its platform. A bit of self-inflicted DMCA hell has prompted it to increase support for creators to deal with copyright issues. Some rogue code also revealed plans for a future "brand safety score," although this has not yet been made public.