Steam Has Reportedly Been Banned In China

TheDalaiBomba

https://www.thegamer.com/steam-banned-china-christmas-day/amp/

Big if true.  It could completely change publishers' strategies if the China market is essentially removed from the table.  Will be interesting to see if it truly was blacklisted, why, and if Valve is looking to resolve it with China.

Slapshot1188

Appeasement never works.  Never has. Never will.  Games, movies, sports... all selling their souls to make obscene amounts of money instead of just ridiculous amounts.

Lets see what the truth of the matter is over the next few days. 

TheDalaiBomba

Slapshot1188 said:

Appeasement never works.  Never has. Never will.  Games, movies, sports... all selling their souls to make obscene amounts of money instead of just ridiculous amounts.

Lets see what the truth of the matter is over the next few days. 

There's apparently two different Steams in China, so it could end up being much ado about nothing.

However, if I'm starting to dominate these entertainment markets to the point the big money is fishing primarily in my pond, it seems like a self-inflicted wound to do something like this and handicap myself if I'm China.

As video gamers in the west, we would stand to benefit from that market closing itself off.  The money then returns to courting western markets.

You're right about appeasement.  It simply enables future attempts to strong-arm you.

DigDuggy

The Chinese might wanna take care.  They're throwing their muscle around with google, intel, and others.  For now, everyone is bowing to their pressure because of the $$$$$.  They do it too much though, they might risk a backlash that could hurt them in turn.

bcbully

Steam real time handling the changing landscape

Kyleran

Clearly there is only one possible response

Rungar

smart move, they need men not a bunch of westernized pussies. Here in the west men and families are hated and i imagine they dont want to share our inevitable fate. 

TheDalaiBomba

Rungar said:

smart move, they need men not a bunch of westernized pussies. Here in the west men and families are hated and i imagine they dont want to share our inevitable fate. 

Sir, this is a Wendy's.

AlBQuirky

Torval said:

Steam has not been banned in China. The global steam app was, but the Chinese app was not. https://www.theverge.com/2021/12/25/22853520/steam-global-china-banned

The Gamer is total crap like a lot of gaming sites. They will apparently publish anything to get clicks and throw journalism or fact checking out the window.

You mean, someone read a twitter thread and decided to create an article from it? lol

Rungar

i read the article they actually did explain that in the article that the chinese (heavily controlled version) was still available. 

still the effect is the same as the Chinese version has much fewer games available. 

the trend of the Chinese to de-westernize their boys and men is also quite real and critical to their survival and dominance. 

a feminized society is a dead one. Anything led by women or men who think and act like women will soon be destroyed. That's just the way it is. Why do you think so much effort has gone into feminizing the west? 

DigDuggy

Rungar said:

smart move, they need men not a bunch of westernized pussies. Here in the west men and families are hated and i imagine they dont want to share our inevitable fate. 

Has nothing to do with that.  This is just a flex in a tit for tat that we've got going on for them.  It's about power and who has it.  To be fair, atm, they ball is in their court.

ConstantineMerus

AlBQuirky said:

Torval said:

Steam has not been banned in China. The global steam app was, but the Chinese app was not. https://www.theverge.com/2021/12/25/22853520/steam-global-china-banned

The Gamer is total crap like a lot of gaming sites. They will apparently publish anything to get clicks and throw journalism or fact checking out the window.

You mean, someone read a twitter thread and decided to create an article from it? lol

That event is so rare that even if I were to witness in first hand I could not believe it. 

olepi

I think there is a good chance China will ban Xbox and Playstation too, as their own console takes over their market.

TheDalaiBomba

Torval said:

Steam has not been banned in China. The global steam app was, but the Chinese app was not. https://www.theverge.com/2021/12/25/22853520/steam-global-china-banned

The Gamer is total crap like a lot of gaming sites. They will apparently publish anything to get clicks and throw journalism or fact checking out the window.

Yea, there's two different types of Steam.  The one that's still available has a far more limited library, and apparently new games have to go through prior approval with the Chinese government.  That prior approval process hasn't been lenient.

If China severely limits new games and Steam Global is, on fact, banned, it will still be a huge blow for potential developers and publishers.

The current situation has already bit Tencent and NetEase: https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3157988/chinas-video-game-freeze-enters-fifth-month-netease-faces-challenges

"The National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA), which is in charge of licensing video games in China, has not published a list of approved new titles since the end of July."

OldKingLog

I'm not sure if the Chinese government is afraid too much exposure to our entertainment culture will weaken their authoritarian grip on their people, or if they are actually horrified our decadent drek will undermine their entire cultural values. After seeing how we in the west have treated each other for the past decade, I'd guess its about fifty/fifty.

TheDalaiBomba

OldKingLog said:

I'm not sure if the Chinese government is afraid too much exposure to our entertainment culture will weaken their authoritarian grip on their people, or if they are actually horrified our decadent drek will undermine their entire cultural values. After seeing how we in the west have treated each other for the past decade, I'd guess its about fifty/fifty.

The west's issue is a deluge of bullshit under the guise of social media "news," but those topics aren't appropriate for these forums.

ircaddicts

TheDalaiBomba said:

OldKingLog said:

I'm not sure if the Chinese government is afraid too much exposure to our entertainment culture will weaken their authoritarian grip on their people, or if they are actually horrified our decadent drek will undermine their entire cultural values. After seeing how we in the west have treated each other for the past decade, I'd guess its about fifty/fifty.

The west's issue is a deluge of bullshit under the guise of social media "news," but those topics aren't appropriate for these forums.

Agree with the first part but NOT the second.  The fact you think like that just shows how much of the BS social media news you belive

Kyleran

ircaddicts said:

TheDalaiBomba said:

OldKingLog said:

I'm not sure if the Chinese government is afraid too much exposure to our entertainment culture will weaken their authoritarian grip on their people, or if they are actually horrified our decadent drek will undermine their entire cultural values. After seeing how we in the west have treated each other for the past decade, I'd guess its about fifty/fifty.

The west's issue is a deluge of bullshit under the guise of social media "news," but those topics aren't appropriate for these forums.

Agree with the first part but NOT the second.  The fact you think like that just shows how much of the BS social media news you belive

Oh no, they are quite correct, the moderators here perma ban those on the "wrong" side of a social media discussion, so best those not be held here.

ConstantineMerus

Kyleran said:

ircaddicts said:

TheDalaiBomba said:

OldKingLog said:

I'm not sure if the Chinese government is afraid too much exposure to our entertainment culture will weaken their authoritarian grip on their people, or if they are actually horrified our decadent drek will undermine their entire cultural values. After seeing how we in the west have treated each other for the past decade, I'd guess its about fifty/fifty.

The west's issue is a deluge of bullshit under the guise of social media "news," but those topics aren't appropriate for these forums.

Agree with the first part but NOT the second.  The fact you think like that just shows how much of the BS social media news you belive

Oh no, they are quite correct, the moderators here perma ban those on the "wrong" side of a social media discussion, so best those not be held here.

Something tells me I'm not going to be on the right side of anything. 

Cleffy

I don't find this unusual. Steam as a platform basically lets anything on which I think is great for independent publishers. There is a lot of crap, but there are some games you would never see without Steam.
China would never allow a publisher to simply let everything on. Everything exposed to the Chinese People must first be approved. There are a number of countries with this approach that are less Fascist than China. For instance, the EU, Australia, and Singapore. Countries that we would typically associate as Liberal Democracies. They just want to censor certain content depending on the culture.

laserit

TheDalaiBomba said:

Slapshot1188 said:

Appeasement never works.  Never has. Never will.  Games, movies, sports... all selling their souls to make obscene amounts of money instead of just ridiculous amounts.

Lets see what the truth of the matter is over the next few days. 

There's apparently two different Steams in China, so it could end up being much ado about nothing.

However, if I'm starting to dominate these entertainment markets to the point the big money is fishing primarily in my pond, it seems like a self-inflicted wound to do something like this and handicap myself if I'm China.

As video gamers in the west, we would stand to benefit from that market closing itself off.  The money then returns to courting western markets.

You're right about appeasement.  It simply enables future attempts to strong-arm you.

China is working hard to get themselves in a position where they don't need the West and where the West needs them.

It's super easy, just take full optimal advantage of good old fashioned greed. 

YashaX

Rungar said:

a feminized society is a dead one. Anything led by women or men who think and act like women will soon be destroyed. That's just the way it is. Why do you think so much effort has gone into feminizing the west? 

I just wondered, who exactly has been trying to feminize the west? If they are doing it to destroy the west, then I suppose they must be some outside force - like China or Russia?

Iselin

Rungar said:

i read the article they actually did explain that in the article that the chinese (heavily controlled version) was still available. 

still the effect is the same as the Chinese version has much fewer games available. 

the trend of the Chinese to de-westernize their boys and men is also quite real and critical to their survival and dominance. 

a feminized society is a dead one. Anything led by women or men who think and act like women will soon be destroyed. That's just the way it is. Why do you think so much effort has gone into feminizing the west? 

You really should keep your politics to yourself.

You have some good outside the box ideas about games and development - stick to that because you sound like a simple minded gynophobe and conspiracy whack job when you sprinkle your politics into your posts.

YashaX

Iselin said:

Rungar said:

i read the article they actually did explain that in the article that the chinese (heavily controlled version) was still available. 

still the effect is the same as the Chinese version has much fewer games available. 

the trend of the Chinese to de-westernize their boys and men is also quite real and critical to their survival and dominance. 

a feminized society is a dead one. Anything led by women or men who think and act like women will soon be destroyed. That's just the way it is. Why do you think so much effort has gone into feminizing the west? 

You really should keep your politics to yourself.

You have some good outside the box ideas about games and development - stick to that because you sound like a simple minded gynophobe and conspiracy whack job when you sprinkle your politics into your posts.

Aww, don't be such a party pooper.

Vrika

Cleffy said:

China would never allow a publisher to simply let everything on. Everything exposed to the Chinese People must first be approved. There are a number of countries with this approach that are less Fascist than China. For instance, the EU, Australia, and Singapore. Countries that we would typically associate as Liberal Democracies. They just want to censor certain content depending on the culture.

Everywhere has some limits on what stuff is illegal. For example I think child porn is illegal at least nearly everywhere.

But in places like EU you can sell digital stuff on net as long as long as court doesn't decide that your product is illegal. That's far cry from China's system where the government tends to ban stuff that they haven't specifically approved.

ircaddicts

Vrika said:

Cleffy said:

China would never allow a publisher to simply let everything on. Everything exposed to the Chinese People must first be approved. There are a number of countries with this approach that are less Fascist than China. For instance, the EU, Australia, and Singapore. Countries that we would typically associate as Liberal Democracies. They just want to censor certain content depending on the culture.

Everywhere has some limits on what stuff is illegal. For example I think child porn is illegal at least nearly everywhere.

But in places like EU you can sell digital stuff on net as long as long as court doesn't decide that your product is illegal. That's far cry from China's system where the government tends to ban stuff that they haven't specifically approved.

Thats more to with the legal system in the different countries. In the UK everything is legal that has NOT been outlawed. But in France its the oppersite where ONLY things that laws says are ok are allowed.