Steam is en route to China as a separate marketplace co-created by Valve and Chinese developer-publisher Perfect World.
As reported by Technode, the marketplace is officially called “Zhengqi Pingtai,” which means “Steam Platform,” and will operate almost entirely independently of Steam. By making Steam China a self-contained platform, Valve will be able to ensure it meets the increasingly strict game regulations (especially those concerning violent and sexual content) currently being implemented in China without having to make changes to the broader Steam marketplace.
According to Perfect World CEO Xiao Hong, Steam China will be “tailored for Chinese users,” and will feature high-speed servers along with a top-notch quality operations team. The first round of games to launch on the platform will be comprised of around 40 titles currently available on the international marketplace and includes some of Valve’s own heavy-hitters like Dota 2 and Dota Underlords.
After news Nintendo’s growing presence in China and the recent ChinaJoy show, it seems like the Chinese video game scene is growing in spite of its restrictions. We’ll have to keep an eye on this to see if anything noteworthy comes of it.
