China blocked Twitch just as the esports streaming service had soared to a No. 3 ranking among free apps in the world’s most populous country.
The 2018 Asian Games, co-hosted by the Indonesian cities of Jakarta and Palembang from Aug. 26 through Sept. 2, introduced esports for the first time as a demonstration sport. The increased profile of esports at the Games drove a surge of Twitch downloads in China, especially because state-run broadcaster CCTV did not air the competition. Mobile analytics firm Sensor Tower told The Verge that Twitch downloads were up by a factor of 23 during the last week of August.