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Steam China has launched in betaIt’s live with 40 games, including Dota 2 and CS:GO
It’s live with 40 games, including Dota 2 and CS:GO
Today, the public beta for Steam China launched. While the global version of Steam has been available in the country for ages, it’s lived in a strange legal limbo due to the country’s strict media regulations. Steam China is an effort from Valve and Chinese game publisher Perfect World to make a platform that’s compliant with these regulations, and will mean Chinese players have their own servers to play on too. For now, it seems both versions of Steam will coexist in China, though there are still concerns that normal Steam could be blocked down the line.The store page forSteam Chinais live now. It’s nothing too special - it basically looks like a slightly simplified version of the Steam we’re used to. At the moment, it has around 40 games, including Valve’s big’uns,Counter-Strike: Global OffensiveandDota 2.Top 10 New PC Games For February 2021Watch on YouTubeAccording to theChinese CS:GOandDota 2 sites, players will be able to log in to Steam China and both games with their usual Steam details. They’ll need to fill in some info if they want to migrate an existing Steam account to Steam China, including autheniticating their real name. The sites say Steam wallet balances won’t change, and neither will CS:GO inventories, so players should be able to use those as normal. China has national servers for the games now too. On top of that,a post on Chinese social network Weibosays that connecting an account to Steam China won’t lock players out of using international Steam either, and they should be able to switch between the platforms freely.Other smaller games are available on Steam China as well, includingHuman: Fall Flat(which is quaintly localised to “Noodle Man”),Dyson Sphere Program, and more. According to aEurogamerinterview with Valve, all of these will have had to obtain a license through the Chinese government’s official approval process, which most games on the international version of Steam have not. The process is strict, long-winded and expensive, which hasput some Chinese devs off of going through it.There were concerns that once Steam China launched, normal Steam might be blocked in the country. This is something Chinese developers are worried about in particular: a number of devs who spoke toPC Gamerare concerned about being completely cut off from publishing their games internationally, while players could lose access to thousands upon thousands of games. Right now that doesn’t seem to be the case though, asChinese site Sinareports that they’re still able to access both versions of Steam. It’s entirely possible the Chinese government could decide to shut down normal Steam without warning, however. Unfortunately, there’s no way of knowing when or if it will happen.More questions about what Steam China will mean for developers and players have yet to be answered. I’ve reached out to Valve and Perfect World, but haven’t received a response yet.
Today, the public beta for Steam China launched. While the global version of Steam has been available in the country for ages, it’s lived in a strange legal limbo due to the country’s strict media regulations. Steam China is an effort from Valve and Chinese game publisher Perfect World to make a platform that’s compliant with these regulations, and will mean Chinese players have their own servers to play on too. For now, it seems both versions of Steam will coexist in China, though there are still concerns that normal Steam could be blocked down the line.The store page forSteam Chinais live now. It’s nothing too special - it basically looks like a slightly simplified version of the Steam we’re used to. At the moment, it has around 40 games, including Valve’s big’uns,Counter-Strike: Global OffensiveandDota 2.Top 10 New PC Games For February 2021Watch on YouTubeAccording to theChinese CS:GOandDota 2 sites, players will be able to log in to Steam China and both games with their usual Steam details. They’ll need to fill in some info if they want to migrate an existing Steam account to Steam China, including autheniticating their real name. The sites say Steam wallet balances won’t change, and neither will CS:GO inventories, so players should be able to use those as normal. China has national servers for the games now too. On top of that,a post on Chinese social network Weibosays that connecting an account to Steam China won’t lock players out of using international Steam either, and they should be able to switch between the platforms freely.Other smaller games are available on Steam China as well, includingHuman: Fall Flat(which is quaintly localised to “Noodle Man”),Dyson Sphere Program, and more. According to aEurogamerinterview with Valve, all of these will have had to obtain a license through the Chinese government’s official approval process, which most games on the international version of Steam have not. The process is strict, long-winded and expensive, which hasput some Chinese devs off of going through it.There were concerns that once Steam China launched, normal Steam might be blocked in the country. This is something Chinese developers are worried about in particular: a number of devs who spoke toPC Gamerare concerned about being completely cut off from publishing their games internationally, while players could lose access to thousands upon thousands of games. Right now that doesn’t seem to be the case though, asChinese site Sinareports that they’re still able to access both versions of Steam. It’s entirely possible the Chinese government could decide to shut down normal Steam without warning, however. Unfortunately, there’s no way of knowing when or if it will happen.More questions about what Steam China will mean for developers and players have yet to be answered. I’ve reached out to Valve and Perfect World, but haven’t received a response yet.
Today, the public beta for Steam China launched. While the global version of Steam has been available in the country for ages, it’s lived in a strange legal limbo due to the country’s strict media regulations. Steam China is an effort from Valve and Chinese game publisher Perfect World to make a platform that’s compliant with these regulations, and will mean Chinese players have their own servers to play on too. For now, it seems both versions of Steam will coexist in China, though there are still concerns that normal Steam could be blocked down the line.
The store page forSteam Chinais live now. It’s nothing too special - it basically looks like a slightly simplified version of the Steam we’re used to. At the moment, it has around 40 games, including Valve’s big’uns,Counter-Strike: Global OffensiveandDota 2.
Top 10 New PC Games For February 2021Watch on YouTube
Top 10 New PC Games For February 2021
According to theChinese CS:GOandDota 2 sites, players will be able to log in to Steam China and both games with their usual Steam details. They’ll need to fill in some info if they want to migrate an existing Steam account to Steam China, including autheniticating their real name. The sites say Steam wallet balances won’t change, and neither will CS:GO inventories, so players should be able to use those as normal. China has national servers for the games now too. On top of that,a post on Chinese social network Weibosays that connecting an account to Steam China won’t lock players out of using international Steam either, and they should be able to switch between the platforms freely.
Other smaller games are available on Steam China as well, includingHuman: Fall Flat(which is quaintly localised to “Noodle Man”),Dyson Sphere Program, and more. According to aEurogamerinterview with Valve, all of these will have had to obtain a license through the Chinese government’s official approval process, which most games on the international version of Steam have not. The process is strict, long-winded and expensive, which hasput some Chinese devs off of going through it.
There were concerns that once Steam China launched, normal Steam might be blocked in the country. This is something Chinese developers are worried about in particular: a number of devs who spoke toPC Gamerare concerned about being completely cut off from publishing their games internationally, while players could lose access to thousands upon thousands of games. Right now that doesn’t seem to be the case though, asChinese site Sinareports that they’re still able to access both versions of Steam. It’s entirely possible the Chinese government could decide to shut down normal Steam without warning, however. Unfortunately, there’s no way of knowing when or if it will happen.
More questions about what Steam China will mean for developers and players have yet to be answered. I’ve reached out to Valve and Perfect World, but haven’t received a response yet.
