It's a partnership three years in the making, but the Steam China Open Beta is almost here!
Game publisher Perfect World will be operating the localised version of Steam's application and marketplace.
This version of Steam will be a government-approved application and should launch successfully with the help of two key games.
Steam China
Steam China is essentially Valve's attempt at getting a secure foothold in the ever-growing Chinese game market.
Recently, Tale of Immortal exploded onto the scene and is the perfect example as to why Valve is undertaking this project.
READ MORE: What Is Tale of Immortal, The New Hit Chinese RPG?
Despite not having an English Language mode, Tale of Immortal has proven immensely popular on Steam's Worldwide version of the application.
Dota 2 and CS: GO are both popular in the Chinese gaming community at the moment and reports are showing that these two games could be the key to Steam China's success.
Players who want to access these titles when the Steam China Open Beta comes out will have to sign in to the new application. Thankfully, their progress will carry over.
Game Availability
Despite these two giants of gaming, there won't be as much availability on Steam China as people might want.
However, this is the entire point of Steam China. Through this, Chinese regulators will have much more control over what makes it to the Steam Store and should help to foster a more dedicated player-base for Valve in the future.
For example, Plague Inc. was banned in China in early last year... Probably for obvious reasons.
During the Steam China Open Beta, the standard Steam Application will still be accessible for Chinese gamers, despite the Chinese Government's distaste for it.
With this in mind, it might be the case that Chinese players will have to use a VPN to access the standard Steam Storefront in the future.