Confusion settled in over the Christmas weekend as the global Steam store became blocked in China. Several reports suggested Steam finally got banned in China after years of complications. However, developers surmised later it was a Steam DNS attack, which prevented many Chinese players from accessing the global store.
Chinese developers who rely on the global store to provide revenue and build a community were unsettled by what happened. Xuan Li, co-developer of Chinese games publisher Thermite Games, told TheGamer that DNS attacks are a “once of [the] year” phenomenon, yet “not super frequent, but still scary.”
News about Steam in China reached Twitter via Vladyslav Tsypljak, co-founder of global games publisher Neon Doctrine, which works hand-in-hand with Chinese and Asian game devs, believes it was an indeliberate attack similar to 2017 during Steam’s winter sale. Speculation is rampant at the moment, with some leaning into a theory that the Steam DNS attack is a precursor for an actual ban later. One clear thing is that the Chinese government has had a precarious relationship with Steam. For years, it has been a legal gray zone for Chinese developers since 2003.
Selling games on Steam in China
For those in the West: selling a game in the Chinese market is no easy feat. Developers must have a games license – one for each game system, pay a steep license fee of up to 10,000 RMB (roughly $1,500), and abide by their country’s rules that shy away from objectionable content like excessive gore and present discussions on politics, religion, and sex.
Steam Global has been the longstanding exception to avoid China’s legal boundaries; however, recent attacks offer a troubling glimpse of what could happen. If developer support from the global platform is stopped by China, an age of region-locked titles for PC games might be their future. What do you think?
Via: TheGamer
