Steam Gets the China Treatment, Banned from the Country - WinBuzzer

2021-12-29 06:52:17 By : Mr. xianyun Wu

Reports from China suggest the government has officially banned the global Steam storefront, leaving users with the limited local app.

Steam is one of the most popular gaming platforms in the world, providing users with access to thousands of streaming titles. It has even been a rare gaming service that is available in China, at least in an unofficial capacity. However, the Chinese government has now decided to pull the plug and has banned Steam.

Valve did release an official Steam app in the country, but it had a limited number of games that were approved by the government. Of course, most gamers were choosing to use the unofficial Steam to access more titles from the global storefront.

Reports coming out of China now suggest that Steam is now on China’s blacklist, including the full global app and the Community website. This is coming from users relaying the information on Twitter, Reddit, and other social media.

Of course, the drastically limited Chinese version is still available.

However, there are also contradictory reports suggesting some users can access the global storefront. So, that means it is unclear why some users get access and others don’t. Of course, it would come as no surprise at all if China does ban the app.

Earlier this year, Microsoft was forced to pull LinkedIn from China because the government accused the app of breaking laws. Instead, Microsoft launched a pared down version of the business social network.

Whether the Chinese government has taken a similar stance against Steam remains to be seen. There has been no official confirmation so far. If true, gamers will only be able to access the global store with VPNs and other workarounds.

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