“Steam is releasing games freely into Vietnam, including violent games, adult games… but without having to ask for permission. This is an injustice to domestic publishers. This requires authorities to take management measures with this cross-border platform, otherwise, domestic game publishers will die,” a representative of a game publisher shared.

According to PV VietNamNet’s research, Steam is Valve’s video game distribution service launched in 2003 as a software application, automatically providing games and expanded to distribute game titles. of third parties from the end of 2005 until now.

Steam offers a variety of features such as technical management, game server connection with Valve Anti-Cheat anti-hacking solution, social networks and Streaming services. Besides, Steam’s application also automatically updates games, cloud storage, community features…

Steam is released globally, currently has more than 100,000 games distributed (including paid and free) as well as updating 6,000 – 8,000 games each year. This platform supports up to 24 languages and is easily accessible to all users around the world. According to VGC, 2023 has seen a series of games distributed on Steam, with 14,535 new games, an increase of nearly 2,000 games compared to 2022.

To use Steam is very simple, just download and install Steam Client, then register an account and proceed to buy games or play free games provided by this platform. Steam also has a built-in electronic wallet (Steam wallet) so players can recharge and pay for user needs (buying games, buying items on the market, items…).

As noted, a lot of shooting games are being released on Steam, which still leave the effect (red blood) intact. In Vietnam, games of the same genre must be edited, due to the violent nature that affects the players’ psychology. In addition, on this platform there are also games with adult content with revealing images, sexual intercourse…

In 2021, the Steam Global version was officially “banned” in the Chinese market, replaced by a Steam version specifically for China. The game library on this platform has just over 100 titles, most of which are Chinese games. Players can find some famous games like Dota 2, CSGO… but will not be able to find games rated 18+ which are very popular on Steam.

In addition to lacking about 110,000 games compared to the Global version, Steam China is also not allowed to have any community features, does not support Workshops, does not allow selling trading cards on the Community Market, and does not have a forum to Gamers communicate and support each other,…

New games that want to appear on this platform will also be strictly censored. Specifically, games released in China are not allowed to have blood, are not allowed to show images of “skulls and bones” and images that can hurt gamers.

According to sources from the management agency, with no contact point in Vietnam, the authorities are looking for solutions to prevent illegal cross-border services from being provided to Vietnamese users in the future next time.