Services that are popular across the globe are often barred from entering the Chinese market or it’s just very difficult for them to compete in the People’s Republic. That has been the case with Valve’s steam but the company has now announced that it’s going to officially expand Steam to China. The move is going to expand the reach of its game library and distribution service to millions of potential users in the country.
It’s not like Steam is blocked by the Chinese internet firewall. It’s available in the country unofficially and remains accessible but the risk of being blocked by the government still remains. This is why Valve is teaming up with a local partner to bring Steam to China officially.
Valve has teamed up with Shanghai-based company Perfect World for this. It has previously worked with this company to launch Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Dota 2 in the country. The partnership will help Valve better localize Steam for Chinese users and promote it effectively.
What Valve hasn’t revealed at this point in time is how it’s going to handle the censorship issues in the country and what it’s approval process for games to be listed in the Chinese store is going to be. A date for the official Steam launch in China wasn’t mentioned in the press release as well.
Filed in . Read more about Steam (Valve) and Valve. Source: store.steampowered