Twitch has been blocked in China

The Twitch website, as well as the Twitch iOS app are no longer accessible in China.

The Chinese government has blocked access to Twitch in mainland China, reports say. This has been the case since as early as this week, with the Twitch website getting blocked first, followed by the app's removal from iTunes.

It started out in certain parts, before it spread to the entire country. Twitch confirmed the block to Abacus News, but didn't state the reason.

Last month, the Twitch iOS app reached the third spot at the top of the iTunes free apps chart. This recent surge in popularity is owed mostly to esports, and the Asian Games in particular.

Twitch was the only way for Chinese fans to follow the event, and it's likely what put it in the Chinese government's crosshairs. Twitch now joins YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Google and other major websites that are all banned in the country.

Some of the Steam Community features have also been inaccessible in China for a while, though the main store remains available. Not for long, though, and Valve is already working with a Chinese publisher to launch a localised version in China.