A China-only version of Steam may sound like a good thing on paper, but for Chinese developers for whom Steam is their lifeline, a region-locked version of the platform may actually mean an existential crisis In December, I WePlay I flew to Shanghai to attend Game Expo. You should read the report to understand the precarious situation these developers are in, but the gist is that heavy-handed government regulation makes it almost impossible for small developers to survive in China's massive gaming industry.

Since it began gaining popularity around 2015, Steam has been a huge loophole in the Chinese government's extensive Internet firewall. While the Chinese government censors websites like Google, Facebook, and Twitch, Steam is freely accessible to over 30 million Chinese gamers. This means unlimited access to popular games like "Grand Theft Auto 5" and "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds". For China's developing indie development scene, Steam is more than just a loophole to bypass government censorship and release games directly to the public. Like many developers around the world, Steam is a lifeline, and who knows if the launch of Steam China will close that loophole for good.

With local servers and localized games, Steam China promises a "better experience" for mainland Chinese gamers launching in the near future, but it will also only sell games approved by China's strict licensing and censorship process. currently offers over 30,000 games, but Steam China will launch with less than 40.

Last year, Valve and its Chinese partner Perfect World provided an update on Steam China's progress at The International, a Dota 2 world championship held in Shanghai. However, spokespersons from both companies did not directly answer one question that has plagued many independent Chinese developers: will mainland Chinese people be able to access the global version of Steam?

In an interview with Eurogamer, Valve's DJ Powers said that "nothing will change" regarding the availability of Steam in China, and that Valve's goal is to ensure that players will continue to have access to the library of Steam games they have already purchased was all he stated. Powers' brief and ambiguous statement, however, did not provide much reassurance to Chinese developers.

"Steam China is horrible," one anonymous developer told me. 'Terrifying. I don't know what will happen, but I hope players still have access to Steam abroad."

"I wouldn't be doing this if Steam wasn't available," another said.

"I think probably most developers in China would. While some were optimistic, the general sentiment of the dozens of developers I spoke to during my trip was that Steam China was an unnecessary threat to their survival.

As such, most of the rumors I encountered during my time in Shanghai were that Valve was being forced to create a sanitized version of Steam in order to avoid being shut out of the country entirely. Without more concrete information, all Chinese Steam users can do is speculate.

If Steam is eventually replaced by Steam China, it will be a major headache for Chinese gamers, but a death sentence for many developers. Another anonymous developer told me, "I would say 100 percent of the indie scene in China is alive because of Steam."

For now, the future of the indie scene in China is uncertain, and until Valve or Perfect World can provide concrete evidence that this is not the case, Steam China should be seen as a way for Valve to continue doing business in China without offending the Chinese government We can't afford not to. For the full story, read our full report.

We reached out to Valve for comment, but had not received a response by the time we published this article.