LogFAQs > #961220160

I'm surprised it took this long, because apparently the Tencent launcher has been fucking massive in China the past few years.

China wants to control information and communication, Steam is an American company where their juristiction over data doesn't apply. Tencent is a Chinese business which means that the CCP can take as much information as they can and monitor everything, because a part of being a business in China is agreeing to terms that give the CCP that level of involvement.

Not only that, but the gaming market is worth billions in China. Their gaming revenue last year was $43 billion, compared with America's $36 billion. Sources - https://www.statista.com/statistics/322200/video-game-revenue-in-china/, https://www.statista.com/statistics/500070/gaming-revenue-north-america/

I'll admit that that's a smaller gap than I was expecting, but regardless.

With Steam, Chinese developers and companies - whose sales may or may not be subsequently taxed by the CCP - share revenue with Steam due to the platform taking a cut. So by limiting the market to a single local platform, more money stays in China and the yearly revenue will almost certainly increase.

So for both the control of information that China is known for, and for the sake of video game profits in a $43 billion market, I can see why China would ban Steam and go all-in on the Tencent launcher.