Valve's expansion of Steam to China has technically happened, but their current offer only features 53 games and Counter-Strike and Dota 2 as headliners.
Steam's regular version, in contrast, packs more than 20,000 items, but that happens when business policies are not governed by a strict government.
Which is exactly what's happening in China, as Valve's admission policy depends on the Chinese government. In order for a game to successfully qualify, it would need to be certified, and we often hear about these processes taking years.
It goes without saying that other Steam features are clamped down on, and you won't find the forums or other popular community features.
That said, we suppose it still pays to be among the first ones to a market, and Steam China's numbers can only go up. More games will eventually come to the service, as the market is booming across the world, so there's always a possibility of the government loosening their grip on the video game market.
In the meantime, though, Steam is firing on all cylinders, and it was recently reported that GabeN's service has hit 26 million concurrent users. Granted, the record they broke was slightly above 25 million and it happened in January 2021, but that's still serious growth by any metric. They now offer EA's games as well, and are getting Forza Horizon 4 soon.
Respawn Entertainment
It's particularly interesting seeing that the introduction of Epic Games Store hasn't diminished Steam's business, quite the contrary as it appears that both of the stores are growing at healthy rates. Some may even say that competition is good for business.
You can check out for yourself, just head over to Steam China .
