Hacking, breakdown, ban? Since Christmas, Chinese players share their distress on social networks, they no longer have access to the global version of Steam. However, many Internet users testify that they have no connection problem. Neither the Chinese authorities, nor Valve, owner of Steam, reacted.
Blocking theory is preferred
Bitter Christmas time in China for video game enthusiasts. This essentially commercial festival in the Middle Empire, according to the very official People’s Daily, has been disturbed for some by the disappearance of the global version of Steam.
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A testimony retrieved on December 26 from Weibo, the Chinese Twitter, reports ” I was unable to open the platform via the local network, which returns error code 118 “. Error 118 indicates a page not loading, explains the South China Morning Post, at the origin of the information.
The same user notes the return of Steam through a VPN. Information corroborated by a tweet spotted by The verge.
Basically, Steam is blocked in China pic.twitter.com/552bej6vqA
– ? Santa Ricky (@_FireMonkey) December 25, 2021
The American media mobilized a tool, Comparitech, used to check blocked sites in China, to verify the situation of steampowered.com. The result, confirmed by Digital Century, is final, Steam would be blocked.
Comparitech’s tool is categorical, Steam is blocked in China. Credit: Comparitech
However, the situation could be more complex, with some Internet users not reporting any difficulty in accessing it. the South China Morning Post evoked ” intermittent connectivity issues in different parts of mainland China “. A situation evoking the blocking of GitHub in the country. Following a breakdown in 2013, the service is inaccessible at times in some regions and accessible in others.
Steam and video games abused by Chinese power
On December 27, Steam would indeed appear on the blacklist of “illegal domain names” of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technologies. In China, the platform is in an awkward situation. It offers games not validated by the Chinese authorities. The National and Publication Association has not licensed new games since July.
To remain established in China, Steam made numerous concessions. The categories Workshop, Community Market, its discussion forum, and the page for sharing content between users, are closed. In March 2020 she agreed to block the Plague Inc game, at the height of the first wave of Covid-19.
Three years ago, Valve announced the release of a Chinese version of its platform, materialized in February 2021. Bad news for the community of players in the Middle Empire, detecting the beginnings of a ban. Steam China has a more than limited library, with 103 games offered against 110,000 on the global platform.
Partial or general ban, this decision by the authorities would be consistent with the policy pursued in the country in 2021. Since August, minors can no longer engage in their favorite activity online more than 3 hours per week, at defined times. Video games are viewed very negatively by those in power, it wouldn’t be surprising if Steam was now paying the price.