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AbacusCulture

Steam is finally coming to China but Chinese gamers don’t want it

Gamers fear Valve’s PC gaming platform will be heavily restricted in China

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Valve officially signs with Shanghai’s government to launch Steam China in Shanghai, as well as bringing the next The International for Dota 2 to the city. (Picture: Weibo)
Josh Ye
This article originally appeared on ABACUS
Valve officially announced the arrival of Steam China in Shanghai on Wednesday. But Chinese gamers are telling the PC gaming platform to “get lost!”
One of the most upvoted comments wrote, “Steam China get out of China.”
It’s important to point out that gamers are directing their anger at Steam China, not Steam. In fact, Chinese gamers love Steam… the global version of it, anyway. There are an estimated 30 million Chinese users playing games on the platform -- games which otherwise aren’t officially available in China.
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But that’s exactly why they fear the launch of Steam China, which is a joint venture between Valve and Chinese company Perfect World. Gamers worry that not only will Steam China be a heavily censored platform with a much smaller lineup of titles; worse yet, it might also be the trigger for the government to ban the global version of Steam.

Valve officially signs with Shanghai’s government to launch Steam China in Shanghai, as well as bringing the next The International for Dota 2 to the city. (Picture: Weibo)
Valve officially signs with Shanghai’s government to launch Steam China in Shanghai, as well as bringing the next The International for Dota 2 to the city. (Picture: Weibo)
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Right now, the global version Steam is in a weird position in China. It’s not officially approved for the country, and yet it’s there -- despite the fact that China has blocked thousands of websites ranging from Facebook, Google to Twitch, Steam somehow remains accessible.
But Steam hasn’t been immune to China’s censorship, either. Chinese regulators have blocked Steam’s community feature and applied pressure on Valve to ensure the storefront is as compliant as it can be.
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