Steam usually has a local regional store as well a global version. The regional store has a limited selection of games so the global version is used to circumvent this, but now gamers in China won’t be able to do it since this version has been banned.
On the various social media platforms in China like Weibo, it has been reported that Steam is inaccessible while a search through the government’s firewall makes it clear that they have completely blocked the default global Steam Store. This doesn’t mean Steam is now gone from China as they have a default China regional store that is still accessible.
The Chinese government has been slowly cracking down on games and regulating the industry after reports about gaming addiction among the youth population began to emerge. This includes limiting the playtime for kids and placing restrictions on companies that fail to follow the rules.
The crackdown on Steam might be one of the actions taken by the government to regulate the games industry in China. While they are usually tough with their regulations, companies have no choice but to comply with them since there is a huge market for gamers in China that is mostly dominated by local or regional companies.
