However, as reported in Vietnam.net, it’s possible Steam has been taken down in Vietnam after local game developers complained about the scope and size of Steam’s vast portfolio of games, claiming Vietnamese devs cannot compete with Steam’s releases given they are subject to government approval and thousands of international games on Steam are not.
Citing it as “an injustice to domestic publishers”, Vietnamese studios reportedly say that local game development “will die” if Steam is able to keep releasing games without the same government scrutiny as domestic games.
Based Vietnam protecting its domestic games industry from American capitalists. :)
TLDR: the online game monopolies of Vietnam complains that they can’t extort the market share our Lord and Savior Gabe Newell rightfully earned," said one unhappy Steam user.
Steam users are so fucking insufferable. They hate all capitalist game companies except this one which they will eagerly lick the boot of.
Maybe I’m just ignorant to Steam’s potentially anti-competitive business practices(?), but to me it just seems like there’s a lack of credible competition. I don’t know the situation in Vietnam specifically, but Steam’s arguably main competitor Epic Games Store still has to use every tactic at its disposal to try and win even a tiny slice of market share. Like exclusivity contracts (which are definitely anti-competitive and anti-consumer), and literally handing out games for free. Yet, people still choose to use Steam instead. Not arguing that Steam treats developers great or anything, but I don’t really think they go out of their way to shut competing platforms out of the market. Would love to be corrected on this if I’m way off base, though.
This article makes it seem like more of a protectionist move than an anti-monopoly move, which I’m in favor of when China does it so why wouldn’t I support Vietnam doing it
It sucks for Vietnamese gamers who will now be forced to use a VPN and change their computer’s locale to play foreign titles, but if in ten or twenty years there’s Vietnamese game devs who wouldn’t have been able to exist otherwise it’ll be worth it.
That’s true, I kinda missed that part in the article. I agree that if it’s simply a matter of forcing Steam to comply with Vietnam’s regulations just like its competitors, then there’s nothing wrong with that. Perhaps that is why there’s been no official statement on either side, and hopefully they’re in the process of working it out.
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A common reason cited by g*mers for only using Steam is that they “want to have all their games in one place”. They will literally never switch to anything else, no matter how good it is, if the majority of their “owned” games can only be accessed through Steam.
A common reason cited by g*mers for only using Steam is that they “want to have all their games in one place”.
I really don’t think that sentiment is all that common. People like to use Steam because it’s a good service, and always innovating new ways to be a good service. There’s no reason for family sharing to exist, or for it to have recently been overhauled in such a way that it’s even smoother and more pleasant to use. They just did it because it makes a better consumer experience. There’s no reason for Proton to exist, or for Valve to push into linux gaming at all. Linux was such an insignificant, tiny market. But Valve is making it a significant market single-handedly and that’s fucking awesome.
Of course Valve, just like any other company in a capitalist society, only wants money. But Valve, unlike most companies in a capitalist society, is guided by the principle that people will fork over their money if the service is good. And they’re goddamn right.
If Epic made a good service, or if Ubisoft made a good service, or if EA made a good service, or if Rockstar made a good service, or if Blizzard made a good service, or if anyone else made a good service, they’d have no problems getting people to use their service and Steam. The problem is that any time somebody other than Valve makes a game store, the only selling point for it is “you can’t play this game if you don’t download our store.” Nobody ever tries actually making something good.
There’s no reason for Proton to exist, or for Valve to push into linux gaming at all. Linux was such an insignificant, tiny market. But Valve is making it a significant market single-handedly and that’s fucking awesome.
Microsoft began making noises about wanting a cut of the Steam gravy train around the time development started on the failed steambox 1.0 project.
I specifically feel that way. Steam is a resource and a convenience and it makes life more difficult to interact with games in a other way. Steam should be nationalized by vietnam.
I just hate Valve and CDPR much, much less than I do Microsoft, Ubisoft, EA and Epic
Just curious, why? I’m not too into what goes on in the game world, so I don’t know who has been doing what. I just remember the hatred for Microsoft for monopoly, EA for some kind of anti-consumer practice, and Ubisoft for making shitty open world games and the microtransaction lootbox bullshit. What did CDPR and Valve do?
EA (and to some extent Valve) is also well known for profiting very heavily off of getting people addicted to gambling in the form of loot boxes. Also EA’s former CEO said that they should capitalize on gamers in the heat of the moment to charge in-app transactions, like pay $1 to reload your magazine mid-combat in Battlefield. They’re also notable for charging tons for DLC. Overall just very money hungry and gross.
Valve is not very good at censoring profitable fascist games from their marketplace (which goes in line with Gaben and his
freedom takes). Valve also takes like 1/3 of the price of the game for themselves, which is pretty high, especially for indie game devs who don’t yet have many sales, and given that they have a de-facto monopoly. They also tried really hard to break EU and Australian law and not allow for refunds on games beyond very limited circumstances. Their work culture is also notoriously sexist and transphobic.I think Valve is probably the lesser evil of game companies but I think that their reputation is much much better than it should be given all this shit. That being said, as a
enjoyer I’m happy they are trying to get gaming on Linux working better, even if it’s just for their own selfish interests.They’re not as detestable than the other guys
Oh shit! I just now realized I completely misread your comment. I thought you said you hate Valve and CDPR much more than the others.
Sorry, pls disregard.
That’s the thing. Valve hasn’t really done anything. They don’t make games anymore. They just sell you shit. They have some controversies but nothing really worth caring (wrt steam) about except that one time they allowed mods to be charged. As such, you don’t get too many reasons to hate it outside of principle, which is fine, but no one else cares enough to make an alternative.
i hate making accounts and don’t buy shit that makes me make a new account
I’d say it’s rather common from what I see. Making new accounts for every launcher/store becomes a pain fast just because of the sheer number of those that exist.
The family sharing thing could very well be to encourage people to remain on the platform, I doubt that it is done just to provide a better experience.
The existance of Proton and the focus on Linux is just a backup plan for them. Sure, the material reality is that it is improving gaming on Linux for everyone, but I would keep that in mind, there is monetary incentive for them to do this, specially since Microsoft can become a walled garden whenever it wants to.
Besides they are not single handedly creating a market for Linux, this ignores all the work that was being done before Valve joined in, and ignores everything else going on too. They are a very big reason why, no doubt, but they aren’t the only one. If they were truly serious about it all, much more money could be invested on the Linux side and Valve could be advertising it, but they aren’t, the closest you get is the Steam Deck and that isn’t even available in most of the world.
The problem is that any time somebody other than Valve makes a game store, the only selling point for it is “you can’t play this game if you don’t download our store.” Nobody ever tries actually making something good.
Even if they did, which I doubt is gonna happen, Valve is a de facto monopoly.
No matter how much money Epic throws at the issue, they still don’t really compete with Valve. Other solutions like GOG and Itch.io are also not able to compete, and these last two are actually somewhat good.
You also can’t play steam games without downloading their store.
I don’t think epic games is that bad as a game auto-uploader. I just wish it took less time to launch.
They also have a better revenue share for game devs, which is good because steam should be pressured to share more revenue.
the only selling point
That’s just a service issue, though. Steam can import CD keys from games that were bought outside of their ecosystem, I don’t know why a competing service couldn’t do the same with purchased Steam games (other than contracts with publishers etc.). I’ve at some point used most of the game stores that exist and I’ll be honest they all kinda suck. They don’t even give me the impression that they’re trying to be serious competition.
I don’t know why a competing service couldn’t do the same with purchased Steam games
We already kind of see that, albeit in reverse. Many Steam games require third party launchers, almost as a kind of desperate attempt to get them installed on users’ computers.
They don’t even give me the impression that they’re trying to be serious competition
I can definitely agree with that. EGS in particular is frankly shameful for a company that constantly rakes in obscene amounts of money.
These companies don’t want to just sell games to you. They want you to interact with their apps and live in their ecosystem and I have zero interest to learn to use a shittier Steam where I have no games
If they just sold you no-frills installers like GOG does (with an optional Steam-like ecosystem I never use) I wouldn’t mind, but of course they don’t want to do that
I know a lot of people who refuse to use Epic because something something Tencent bad!
It’s all just vibes. As long as your government connections aren’t visible and publicly talked about, you’re one of the good ones in liberals’ eyes
Meanwhile I don’t use it because they had that giant data breach years ago and I don’t want to risk another vector of my credit card getting stolen.
the epic app/launcher whatever was just bad to use, all the free games in the world could never make me want to wait for their junk to load and typically fail to load. IDK if its improved, but its too late now, I don;t even care to check in for the free stuff anymore.
I’ve also heard people defending steam because Proton works well
I argue that is the case as well. Personally, I’ve been so dissatisfied with every alternative I have no desire to use a different service.
Steam also appears to be the only service that tends to do right by the customer so there is no push to seek an alternative.
Every indie game developer wishes gamers would use itch.io instead.
The only times I’ve ever seen
itch.iocome up is when it’s being spammed on platforms like Discord to spread malware. I tend to avoid it personally, as that does not really inspire confidence.
Mixed feelings bc this is going to cut people off from playing a lot of games with folks in other parts of the world, which to me is one of the main draws of online gaming. But fuck steam 100%.
Piracy is always an option
True, and VPNs exist. It’s more of an access thing. Lots of people don’t have hte technical knowledge and skills to do these things.
A lot of Internet cafes in Vietnam already use pirated games. But cracked multiplayer games usually cannot play with legit players.
Access to multiplayer games is no great loss to society, imo.
Steam users are so fucking insufferable. They hate all capitalist game companies except this one which they will eagerly lick the boot of.
I don’t like steam but
the correct number of steam-like things is 0 or 1 and we already have steam.It sounds like Steam just needs to subject itself to the same regulatory oversight as domestic developers are bound by. Which seems fair to me.
This story seems to be a bit exaggerated - a Vietnamese game developer I spoke to reported that people still have access to Steam and that the source for this story isn’t super well substantiated.
What I’ve seen says they can still use the library they have bought but can’t use the store etc.
I did only hear from one guy when I asked about this, so I’m not sure what the full extent of the situation is, but aforementioned singular Vietnamese developer called the provided explanation a “very wild theory” and that the quote seemed to just be speculation from a random guy, “…and as of today, people can access Steam normally.”
expect the Gamer Color Revolution soon
STEAM IS BAD AND THIS IS DUMB
IF STEAM JUST NEEDS TO SUBJECT ITSELF TO REGULATION THEN THIS IS IN FACT BASED.
And with the stroke of a pen, SEA became unable to ever win The International
i fully agree with the banning of steam and the destruction of Valve as an entity, but i think it’s worth noting that the limitation placed on domestic devs in this case is imposed by Vietnam. Like, I’m sure the leninists here could very eloquently explain it to me using words like “objectively” and “defense of the revolution” but I don’t think it’s actually necessary to require government approval for the publication of video games.
Death to Steam, long live GoG!
GoG stays winning don’t even need to log in to play my games.
A friend of mine gave me their GOG copy of Baldur’s Gate the other day on a thumb drive and it just works. There was nothing else to it. They are the best store front by far.
Not really the same, but apparently Netflix got busted distributing games.
https://english.thesaigontimes.vn/netflix-told-to-cease-distributing-unauthorized-games-in-vietnam/
“Unauthorized games”
Steams realeses? Of what counter strike and DOTA?
You can develop games just fine. You can sell your games on Steam. Steam is a storefront more than a competing developer. I don’t get what the fear is?
Vietnamese devs cannot compete with Steam’s releases given they are subject to government approval and thousands of international games on Steam are not.
So games released on Steam are not subject to government censorship and control. It isn’t Steam so much as they fear the offerings through steam aren’t in their control. Isn’t this what the US is doing to TikTok?
Machine translation of the article.
Steam is releasing games freely into Vietnam, including violent games, adult games… but without having to ask for permission. This is an injustice to domestic publishers. This requires authorities to take management measures with this cross-border platform, otherwise, domestic game publishers will die," a representative of a game publisher shared.
According to PV VietNamNet’s research, Steam is Valve’s video game distribution service launched in 2003 as a software application, automatically providing games and expanded to distribute game titles. of third parties from the end of 2005 to present.
Steam offers a variety of features such as technical management, game server connection with Valve Anti-Cheat anti-hacking solution, social networks and Streaming services. Besides, Steam’s application also automatically updates games, cloud storage, community features…
Steam is released globally, currently has more than 100,000 games distributed (including paid and free) as well as updating 6,000 - 8,000 games each year. This platform supports up to 24 languages and is easily accessible to all users around the world. According to VGC, 2023 has seen a series of games distributed on Steam, with 14,535 new games, an increase of nearly 2,000 games compared to 2022.
To use Steam is very simple, just download and install Steam Client, then register an account and proceed to buy games or play free games provided by this platform. Steam also has a built-in electronic wallet (Steam wallet) so players can recharge and pay for user needs (buy games, buy items on the market, items…).
As noted, a lot of shooting games are being released on Steam, which still leave the effect (red blood) intact. In Vietnam, games of the same genre must be edited, due to their violent nature, which affects the psychology of players. In addition, on this platform there are also games with adult content with revealing images, sexual intercourse…
In 2021, the Steam Global version was officially “banned” in the Chinese market, replaced by a Steam version specifically for China. The game library on this platform has just over 100 titles, most of which are Chinese games. Players can find some famous games like Dota 2, CSGO… but will not be able to find games rated 18+ which are very popular on Steam.
In addition to lacking about 110,000 game titles compared to the Global version, Steam China is also not allowed to have any community features, does not support Workshop, does not allow selling trading cards on the Community Market, and does not have a forum to Gamers communicate and support each other,…
New games that want to appear on this platform will also be strictly censored. Specifically, games released in China are not allowed to have blood, are not allowed to show images of “skulls and bones” and images that can hurt gamers.
According to sources from the management agency, with no contact point in Vietnam, the authorities are looking for solutions to prevent illegal cross-border services from being provided to Vietnamese users in the future. next time.
a lot of shooting games are being released on Steam, which still leave the effect (red blood) intact. In Vietnam, games of the same genre must be edited, due to their violent nature, which affects the psychology of players. In addition, on this platform there are also games with adult content with revealing images, sexual intercourse…
I didn’t know Vietnam was so church lady prudish.
