Chinese Version Of Game Platform Steam Releases With Caveats

Steam China, a version of the popular game distribution platform for residents of China, has just been released, but users can expect to see only a handful of games in it for the time being.

This version of Steam only contains a total of 53 games and their DLCs, PC Gamer reported. This is a far cry from the total number of games currently available in the international Steam catalog, which is roughly 44,000, according to tracker website Steam Spy.

The limited number of games in the Chinese Steam catalog is linked to the strict licensing requirements that were set by the country's government. Since this version of Steam will be primarily serving mainland China, the content that gets put up for sale in the Steam store is heavily regulated based on Chinese laws.

Many big titles such as "Counter-Strike: Global Offensive" and "Dota 2" are available in Steam China, along with many popular Chinese games that are currently being sold on the platform’s international version.

Local users will be able to purchase games directly from Steam China without the need for a VPN and won’t have to worry about any potential issues with their accounts unlike in regular Steam.

In an interview with Eurogamer, DJ Powers, a member of Valve’s business development team, said they were unsure about what would happen to the millions of active Chinese users in Steam’s international version.

It is speculated that these Chinese users will eventually lose access to their international Steam accounts, causing them to lose all of their purchased games, cloud saves and other data that they own. There is no official word from either Valve or the Chinese government regarding this potential issue.

Apart from the heavy restrictions on games, Steam China has also lost the Community feature and access to Steam’s public forums, limiting community interaction between players of different games on the platform.

The amount of games available in Steam China’s catalog is expected to increase over time, but considering how long and arduous the approval process is, it may take longer than what many users would like.