Twitter said Tuesday that it plans to close Periscope, its pioneering live video streaming app, in March 2021.
Twitter bought the startup behind Periscope in January 2015 in a deal that was reportedly worth up to $ 100 million, in the hope that a personal live streaming video would please its social media platform.
But Twitter said Tuesday in a blog post that the use of Periscope has been declining in recent years, and that it is to the point that it has been too costly to maintain the app.
“The Periscope app is in an unsustainable state of maintenance and has been for a while,” the company explained. “Over the past two years, we’ve seen usage decrease and we know the cost of supporting the app will only continue to increase over time.”
Meanwhile, Twitter has been integrating Periscope’s live streaming features into its platform, which it first introduced in the fall of 2016. Users can stream live videos to Twitter using the Twitter Live feature when composing a message.
“We probably would have made that decision sooner if it weren’t for all the projects we prioritized because of the 2020 events,” he said on Twitter.
Twitter said it will remove Periscope from app stores in March 2021, but that it is already blocking any new account registration as of today. Users will have the opportunity to download a file of both their Periscope videos and their data before closing the app next year. In addition, the Periscope website will remain active to serve as a “read-only archive of public broadcasts,” the company said.
“While it’s time to say goodbye, Periscope’s legacy will live far beyond the limits of the app,” he said on Twitter. “The capabilities and ethics of the Periscope team and infrastructure already permeate Twitter, and we’re confident that live video still has the potential to see an even wider audience within the Twitter product.”