Valve has agreed to launch Steam with the Chinese government

This Wednesday, November 28, it became known about the conclusion of a deal between Valve and the leadership of Shanghai. The parties agreed to launch the official Chinese version of Steam.

Photos from the announcement of the deal
This is reported by the publication Abacus, dedicated to IT in the Middle Kingdom.

It also notes that Chinese gamers took the news coldly.

The fact is that Steam is not officially launched in China right now. He works in the “gray zone”. That is, it is not regulated by local authorities and is available without a VPN.

Obviously, the official Chinese version of the store will obey the authorities. And this means that:

• to run on the platform, the game will have to obtain a license from the government;
• the assortment of the Chinese version will be radically different from the assortment of the international one.

At the same time, it is unclear what will happen to the status of the international version of Steam in China. Both Chinese gamers and analysts fear that after the launch of Steam China, it will be closed in the country. Because of this, a number of Western projects simply will not get to the local market.

For example, GTA V is prohibited in the Middle Kingdom. The only opportunity for Chinese gamers to play it was given by Steam.

When exactly the launch of Steam Chine will take place is not reported. Her operation will be handled by the Chinese company Perfect World.

The international version of Steam is now used by 30 million Chinese. Dota 2 and PUBG played a major role in the popularity of the site among them.

Sources: Abacus, Niko Partners