Banned country's?

[Bromius]

which country's are banned from steam and games?

[potato]

north korea?

but it's more like steam is banned there, as is most of the internet

[❤ Sly Succubus ❤]

None are realistically banned, Steam has a region lock system in place where some games are regulated to only be visible by its parent nation of origin or when banned in certain nations, the game page will not be visible either, as far as it goes, no nations are banned from Steam, its more of a complex situation of Steam using a unique mixture of region lock, restrictions as requested and so on from there.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

North Korea and Iran can't purchase anything.

Russia and Belarus are extremely limited in what they can purchase but they are not banned from playing games, like you asked in the other thread.

[Kargor]

Also, isn't China a separate entity? Not in the sense of being banned, but they get their own Steam?

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Originally posted by Kargor:

Also, isn't China a separate entity? Not in the sense of being banned, but they get their own Steam?

Most still use the international version (VPN) but the Steam for China client is heavily restricted.

[76561199540158642]

what about Russia and China on the space station, does the space station have full access to steam? i would imagine they do since its a international space station.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Originally posted by Golden Unicorn:

what about Russia and China on the space station, does the space station have full access to steam? i would imagine they do since its a international space station.

They don't have Steam on the space stations.

[Chika Ogiue]

Originally posted by Mischievous Sly Succubus:

None are realistically banned, Steam has a region lock system in place where some games are regulated to only be visible by its parent nation of origin or when banned in certain nations, the game page will not be visible either, as far as it goes, no nations are banned from Steam, its more of a complex situation of Steam using a unique mixture of region lock, restrictions as requested and so on from there.

The vast majority of regional restrictions on Steam have nothing to do with games being "banned" from sale in regions. They are, in fact, simply caused by publisher business decisions and distribution licensing. Many of those also prevent games from being sold in their region of origin.

[Heraclius Caesar]

Originally posted by cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

Originally posted by Golden Unicorn:

what about Russia and China on the space station, does the space station have full access to steam? i would imagine they do since its a international space station.

They don't have Steam on the space stations.

That's unfortunate

[Amaterasu]

Originally posted by Heraclius Caesar:

Originally posted by cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

They don't have Steam on the space stations.

That's unfortunate

I mean the latency would be hell.

[Ben Lubar]

Originally posted by potato:

north korea?

but it's more like steam is banned there, as is most of the internet

Just looked up regional download stats for my game. 1 download from North Korea. Three other countries with 1 download each: Norfolk Island, Nauru, and Wallis And Futuna Islands.

Edit: Other countries mentioned in this thread:

Iran: 2,970
Russia: 411,974
Belarus: 22,328
Steam China: 0
China: 1,559,528
International Space Station: in the very small chance someone played my game on there, they probably brought it with them in a shuttle

I think this is done via an IP address location database.

5 downloads a blank country name, 20 with a blank continent name somehow.

[Bromius]

I thought Russia was banned from steam?

[Lokiator]

Originally posted by Bromius:

I thought Russia was banned from steam?

Based on my understanding of the sanctions, Russians can download and play any older games that they already own, but can't buy any new ones.

[potato]

Originally posted by Bromius:

I thought Russia was banned from steam?

it's not

they just can't buy games from publishers that blocked it

[Kargor]

Originally posted by Lokiator:

Originally posted by Bromius:

I thought Russia was banned from steam?

Based on my understanding of the sanctions, Russians can download and play any older games that they already own, but can't buy any new ones.

And even that's not because of a "Russians may not buy western videogames" sanction -- is because Steam wants money, and Russia has been cut off the global monetary system.