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.

  • SSJ2Marx@hexbear.net
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    2 months ago

    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 shrug-outta-hecks

    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.

    • brainw0rms [they/them]@hexbear.net
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      2 months ago

      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.