Twitter said Tuesday that it plans to shut down Periscope, its groundbreaking live video streaming app, by March 2021.
Twitter bought the startup behind Periscope in January 2015 in a deal reportedly worth $ 100 million, in the hope that live streaming video would complement its social media platform.
But Twitter said in a blog post on Tuesday that use of Periscope has declined in recent years and has gotten to the point where it has become too expensive to maintain the app.
“The Periscope app is in an unsustainable state of repair, and it has been for a while,” the company explains. “In recent years, we have seen a decline in usage and know that the cost of supporting the app will only increase over time.”
Meanwhile, Twitter has integrated Periscope’s live streaming capabilities into its platform, which it first introduced in the fall of 2016. Users can broadcast live videos on Twitter using the Twitter Live feature when composing a message.
“We probably would have made this decision earlier if we had not reprioritized all projects due to the 2020 events,” said Twitter.
Twitter said it will remove Periscope from app stores in March 2021, but it is already blocking new account logins starting today. Users will have the chance to download an archive of both their Periscope videos and their data before the app shuts down next year. In addition, the Periscope website remains active as a “read-only archive of public broadcasts,” the company said.
“While it’s time to say goodbye, Periscope’s legacy will live on far beyond the boundaries of the app itself,” said Twitter. “The capabilities and ethos of the Periscope team and infrastructure are already permeating Twitter, and we believe live video still has the potential to see an even wider audience within the Twitter product.”