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Sounds like Steam was down in just China alone these past few days, though now back up many think it will soon be banned. Think this will happen in 2022?
Steam banned in China?
- Thread started by Demon_Skeith
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I'd say they will either be banned or pull their services in 2022. I hope it will help with the hacker issues, but I don't know how well the bans will keep hackers out to begin with.
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I thought gaming was still a big cash cow for China. Unless that's other places like GoG and mobile app stores. If it's just Steam being banned they'll find their way in other places.
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I feel Steam will not be banned in China because a lot of Chinese people and many government officials will lose access to a lot of games which they bought over the years, and they can no longer buy games which they want to play in the future from Steam.
PC Gaming is huge in China, so banning Steam may cause China to lose out on collecting a lot of sales tax from Chinese gamers who bought games on Steam.
PC Gaming is huge in China, so banning Steam may cause China to lose out on collecting a lot of sales tax from Chinese gamers who bought games on Steam.
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Read from kotaku:
China’s freeze on video game licenses continues. South China Morning Post notes that the National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA) has not released a list of newly approved titles since July 2021. Because of this, state-run newspaper Securities Daily reports, approximately 14,000 small game studios and video game connection companies, including those involved in merchandising or publishing, have gone under.
Typically, the NPPA approves around 80 to 100 games a month, so the lack of an approved list has ground part of the industry to a halt. China is such a massive market, and the hiatus has caused uncertainty that has led to layoffs at game companies, and conglomerates with game divisions. However, it sounds like the smaller outfits have been hit the hardest.
No reason has been given for the hiatus, and the NPPA hasn’t stated when approvals will restart. Prior to this latest freeze, the longest period that new game licenses were not released was a nine-month window in 2018.
SCMP points out that the approval freeze happened a few months after March 2021, when President Xi Jinping mentioned his concerns about gaming’s psychological impact on young people. Later in August, state-run media referred to video games as “spiritual opium” and “electronic drugs.” Then, on September 1, restrictions limiting the online gaming of the nation’s youth went into effect. While these restrictions were not law (and were soon circumvented), the combined impact of all this, the lack of new game approvals, and general uncertainty, is impacting the industry—and not in a good way.
China’s freeze on video game licenses continues. South China Morning Post notes that the National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA) has not released a list of newly approved titles since July 2021. Because of this, state-run newspaper Securities Daily reports, approximately 14,000 small game studios and video game connection companies, including those involved in merchandising or publishing, have gone under.
Typically, the NPPA approves around 80 to 100 games a month, so the lack of an approved list has ground part of the industry to a halt. China is such a massive market, and the hiatus has caused uncertainty that has led to layoffs at game companies, and conglomerates with game divisions. However, it sounds like the smaller outfits have been hit the hardest.
No reason has been given for the hiatus, and the NPPA hasn’t stated when approvals will restart. Prior to this latest freeze, the longest period that new game licenses were not released was a nine-month window in 2018.
SCMP points out that the approval freeze happened a few months after March 2021, when President Xi Jinping mentioned his concerns about gaming’s psychological impact on young people. Later in August, state-run media referred to video games as “spiritual opium” and “electronic drugs.” Then, on September 1, restrictions limiting the online gaming of the nation’s youth went into effect. While these restrictions were not law (and were soon circumvented), the combined impact of all this, the lack of new game approvals, and general uncertainty, is impacting the industry—and not in a good way.
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Mostly it's Xi Jinping's fault, the guy is not a fan of video games and a major control freak. Even Winnie The Pooh is banned in China because he was compared to Xi Jinping physically lol
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The Chinese government dislikes anything "Fun" and "entertaining"! They have this VERY STRANGE belief that anything "western" should be banned, like freedom of speech, freedom of religion, etc. It's pretty bad... Total dictatorship! Makes me proud to be an American! And the United States of America is FAR from being a perfect country! But, it has freedom as a core value! It's still not perfect though! Keep that in mind!
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At least they have nice movies to watch.