Steam Community Access Blocked from China

Ule Lopez

December 19, 2017

Here’s something the Net Neutrality opposition might not tell you. China has the power to police and check on every single bit of content thanks to laws created to repeal it during the 90’s. As such, China’s government can control whether or not people access certain places, like the Steam Community.

According to ValveTime, China’s Steam Users aren’t allowed to enter the Steam Community anymore. Ever since December 15, players have been restricted from going into the Forums, Guides, Achievements. Groups, Player Profiles and Badges.

The Steam Community has been blocked in China. Steam and the Steam Store are still accessible. https://t.co/pHJGFX2U4E #steam pic.twitter.com/oDl6FqOSzR

— ValveTime (@ValveTime) December 18, 2017

It’s important to mention that China hasn’t completely sealed off access to Steam. As such, the players in the region can still enter the Steam Storefront and purchase any games they want. Some Reddit users have also confirmed that features like Friends and Chat are still available.

At the moment, China hasn’t stated their reasoning behind blocking off Steam Community Access. However, when you consider the fact that China has a history of blocking American Content, it’s not that hard to put 2 and 2 together.

Earlier this year, the Chinese government reportedly implemented a full ban on the release of games developed in South Korea as a political warning. Prior to that, it blocked Gears of War 4 from the Windows 10 store for being too violent, showing it isn’t afraid to chastise big name players like Microsoft.

We also mentioned how companies like Tencent often have to be distributing games like PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. But to be fair, their law enforcement against cheaters and cheat providers is enviable.

Since we’re on the subject of China and game distribution. Did you know that Nintendo and Nvidia are bringing Nintendo Games to China through a partnership? Nintendo will be distributing Wii and Nintendo GameCube games through Nvidia SHIELD in this country. China is certainly a bit hard to deal with.