Steam Has Just Been Banned in China

Chances are if you’re reading this and/or own a PC, you know what Steam is. Its the largest PC gaming storefront in the industry used by millions of people around the world. It appears that the global version of Steam that’s available to most people in the world has been banned in China in place of a different Chinese version of the popular storefront.

This sucks for most people that might be reading this from China with their VPNs because the Chinese version of Steam is well….not good, lacking the community features of the original store including the forums and the Steam community. The storefront also lacks many…many games, during the time of its release the Chinese storefront only had 53 games and DLCs in comparison to Global Steam’s 21,131 games. 

This is very likely China pushing Chinese players into using the Chinese Steam app as back then players just had free access to the original Steam. The Chinese storefront also exclusively includes games that have been certified by the Chinese Government. 

This news might come off as somewhat unfortunate for most Chinese players out there. China has always had a strict watch over games, mandating a strict gaming curfew for minors in China. Gamers under 18 are banned from playing online between 22:00 and 08:00. They are also restricted to 90 minutes of gaming on weekdays and three hours on weekends and holidays.

Taking all this into account, we can assume that China is trying to enforce their restrictions as well as their entertainment products only to what the government deems appropriate for the audience. So we should all collectively take a moment of silence, and thank the heavens that we were not born in China. 

Currently, Steam also has a Winter sale going on with thousands upon thousands of fantastic titles on sale. So if you’ve been waiting like me to get NieR Replicant for the past few months, now is the time.