In 2021, Steam was blacklisted by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, prohibiting players from using it without a VPN, and an article in 2022 described the platform's inglorious history in China. At that time, it was only a few months before Steam officially entered China in order to comply with government regulations (although Chinese gamers have been using the platform since 2004). Regardless of these concerns, Steam is still going strong as of April 2024, with Niko Partners recently releasing a report detailing how the platform remains the number one platform for PC gaming in China.
It’s worth remembering that 80% of Chinese PC gamers use the internationa iceland whatsapp resourcel version. Data from Dao Insights shows that Simplified Chinese became the most used language on Steam this year. While the platform has seen this happen in the past, this is the first time since Steam China launched. Remember, Steam is just as important to China’s gaming economy as it is to any other country.
Chinese companies see it as the preferred way to sell to international markets. In fact, given the sheer number of games that are only available in Chinese, many gaming companies even rely on Steam to sell to domestic players. Using Social Media to Promote PC Games in China As in other countries, social media is an important part of marketing in China; however, what makes China unique is that it has a different social media ecosystem than North America, Europe, or even Japan.