If true serves Valves right for making a China specific part of Steam to confirm to Chinas rather oppressive government .. Whatever the case can say Valves move to make a China specific branch of Steam drove me to more Drm-free gaming far more then prior atleast

Apparently access to steam global is removed in China although access to Steam China is not.
It seems to be a means to restrict access to games that are more in-line with China's cultural values.

https://www.theverge.com/2021/12/25/22853520/steam-global-china-banned

I really dont know how effective this is since Chinese people are able to bypass the firewall to access sites that are normally restricted like Youtube. Given the fact that most Chinese PC gamers are tech savvy, they will likely just bypass the firewall to access steam.

And pay for them how?

Do people now only get news from overlong shitty youtube videos? You could link any of a number of written articles that tell the whole thing in a couple of paragraphs.
https://gamerant.com/steam-china-ban/
https://www.theverge.com/2021/12/25/22853520/steam-global-china-banned

but no, instead it's this 15 minute snore fest with some asshat.

Well considering how much they were limiting how much time you could even be on your games in China, it was inevitable.

Why bother with China when you have cultural censorship and control going on right under your noses.

True they cant buy new games but they can still access the games they own on steam which may be restricted if they arnt one the Steam China client. Not sure how restrictive the ban is.

And just today here on this now locked thread https://www.gog.com/forum/general/many_gamers_ask_that_lithuanian_games_be_removed_from_gog I was trying to tell GOG to repent proactively and remove games from a country that has offended China and Chinese people. Only for the thread to be rudely locked unjustly. Don't come saying that you were not warned when China blocks GOG too.

good :)
cause companies think if they bootlick china they are allowed to touch the honey jar
they never think it thru

Agreed. Corporate greed has companies rewarding China's terrible practices with business instead of holding their feet to the fire to actually change. They'd rather have Chinese money that was not in the market before than try to have standards that the people of China are treated like human beings.

I liked how the South Park creators (more or less) cut ties to China. I mean, some people/companies stand up for their principles, but I felt they went above and beyond while doing so.

(of course, they could've just been doing it to get more money/fans....at least in part.....but it was still pretty epic)

like here?

There is a difference between a company toeing the line to enter the market and the consumers bypassing that regulation for another product.

Corporations like Nintendo and Sony produce Chinese versions of consoles so they can enter the market.
https://screenrant.com/nintendo-switch-china-censorship-chinese-version-scalpers/

However, Chinese consumers arn't buying, not because they arn't interested in consoles but because they don't want the nerfed Chinese versions. Instead, Chinese consumers are purchasing imported versions of the Switch that arn't restricted to only 3 games, even if they have to pay a premium to do so.

Don't know how the steam ban is going to affect Chinese steam consumers but even the article below notes that Chinese consumers are going to use VPN to bypass the firewall.
https://www.ginx.tv/en/video-games/china-bans-international-version-of-steam

How much they will be able to do with steam through firewall, I think still needs to wait to be seen.

China has enough coal to create their own steam...

I just inquired about China’s national IPC/IP domain name information record management system, STEAM, did not enter the blacklist at all. Suspected that the fake PS pictures transmitted online is because the V social server is too bad and can’t be uploaded.