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Steam is now banned in Vietnam (www.eurogamer.net)

submitted 1 month ago by pro_grammer@programming.dev to c/steam@lemmy.ml

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[-] veeesix@lemmy.ca 148 points 1 month ago

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.

[-] inlandempire@jlai.lu 157 points 1 month ago

Makes sense in regards to their law, but holy hell are their laws stupid

[-] UsernameIsTooLon@lemmy.world 32 points 1 month ago

As a vietnamese American, my mom always told me stories about the shitty government. Most citizens in Vietnam know the laws are dumb too but can't protest because the government is too strong now. Just know that EVERYTHING is regulated over there.

[-] Woozythebear@lemmy.world 30 points 1 month ago

You can thank America for that

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[-] PowerCrazy@lemmy.ml 100 points 1 month ago

Sounds like the problem here is the "government scrutiny" not steam.

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[-] Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.world 39 points 1 month ago

Ooof. What a stupid take.

There are indie studios whose lives have been changed because they focus on the international market.

This small brain thinking will ensure they die.

[-] Rakonat@lemmy.world 31 points 1 month ago

The local devs were not trying to get steam banned. Hell they wanted steam but wanted to play by the same rules and pointed out how strict their own laws and requirements were.

Vietnam govt said you're right, it's not fair and banned steam to make sure everyone plays by their rules rather than admit the rules were stupid and draconic.

[-] luciferofastora@lemmy.zip 7 points 1 month ago

Careful what you wish for - you never know if it'll be granted by a Monkey's Paw

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[-] CaptainBasculin@lemmy.ml 118 points 1 month ago

Governmental approval on games is an unbelievably dumb idea. Banning online game markets is not a solution; changing the laws is.

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[-] Anamana@feddit.de 33 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

F to all vietnamese brothers & sisters. I wonder if they also banned Epic and the others

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[-] nephs@lemmygrad.ml 16 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

That's Sovereignty.

Assuming approval is a strict requirement, a middle ground solution would be an open source, federatable, steam clone, operated locally. Have an approving committee to priorise approving games from local developers, and working on evaluating international games after all local games are dealt with.

That's for sure similarly efficient to gaming industry distributors system, where you need companies with the right connections to launch games in big platforms, like sony's, nintendo's, or microsoft's. Or event steam's, to a minor extent. Which also veto games not aligned to their opaque terms and conditions.

Also, it would improve international competition, with the removal of the technology barrier of entry, distribution costs would lower, games would become cheaper, and the share retained by creators and developers would be increased.

Long live, a collaborative approach to technology! Long live smaller profit margins! Long live open source!

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[-] autonomoususer@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

This is only possible because Steam is (1) anti-libre software plus (2) service as a software substitute.

[-] jsomae@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 month ago

Based.

I hated steam when it started. I've grown to realize it's much better than any alternative. But I still miss the pre-steam days.

[-] Rakonat@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I was furious that I had to download steam and install steam to play new vegas on pc at launch (as well as the box I bought from gamestop not having a the game inside but rather just a pamphlet with a cd key) I was later infuriated by New Vegas at launch and the utterly broken state of the game with each week a new but preventing progress or outright crashing game.

But now days I'm reasonable happy with (Steam) it, it's not a perfect a solution but at least tries to uphold the gamer/consumer experience, unlike shotboxes like origin or epic games which were nonstop ads and snooping through your files outside the directory.