The Chinese government likes to have a tight grasp over all companies that work within its borders. And
Valve‘s Steam is no exception of that rule. The Chinese are known for their control regulations on video games and Steam could not escape that. China has shown this tendency for the longest time now, with the control over
PUBG Mobile, which Tencent had to finally release as a different game in its home country. Game for Peace which is the edited version of
PUBG Mobile stated doing heavy business as soon as it released. This shows the demand for games that already exists in China.
And now, according to a
TechNode report, Valve has released Steam in China in partnership with a Chinese comapny called Perfect World. This company has existed in China since 2004, and is essentially is a developer of free-to-play massively online multiplayer games for the Chinese market. But it does have North American and European divisions as well. This company will be the local face of Steam for Valve.
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As of now there isn’t too much information about when this Chinese version of Steam will release. But one thing that has come out is that it will be called ‘Zhengpi Pingtai’. It sounds nothing like the ‘Steam’ we are used to, but in Chinese it actually means ‘Steam Platform’.
Xiao Hong who is the CEO of Perfect World says that Zhengpi Pingtai is going to be, “tailored for Chinese users” and that the priority is focus on “high-speed servers and high-quality operations teams.” From what it seems, Perfect World will be running the show for Valve in China and Valve will only be dictating some of the rules. This is one way other companies have diverted the Chinese government’s ire, and Valve won’t need to worry about the Chinese norms. As for players they will get around*40 popular titles from Steam during launch. This includes Dota 2 which is one of the most popular games in China.
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08-30-2019, 09:00 AM
Guess what Steam will be called in China
