Few governments block Steam. Vietnam has blocked it since May 2024 over unlicensed games, and Indonesia did for three days in 2022. China has long blocked the Steam Community and steers players to a licensed Steam China.
Every day we open Steam from inside 24 countries, mostly over home broadband, and record
where it’s blocked, since when and how.
1 of 24tested countries with a confirmed block of Steam
Blocked in Vietnam. 24 of 24 results confirmed in the last 48 hours.
Blocked means the networks we test there failed to open store.steampowered.com, twice, while it opened elsewhere.
“Turned away by the site” means Steam itself refused visitors from that country.
* First observed on this date: the block may be older. Older results are excluded from current totals.
Background
Where Steam is restricted, and why
Governments that act against Steam mostly do so over game licensing and registration, not politics. Vietnam has blocked it through its telecom providers since May 2024: the information ministry’s broadcasting and electronic information authority said Steam distributed games in Vietnam without a licence and ignored its repeated requests. Games already installed kept working, but the store and online features stopped, and independent tests on Viettel still found the store blocked in October 2026.
China steers players to a licensed version instead. Steam China, a separate client made with the Chinese publisher Perfect World and limited to government-approved games, opened in February 2021 with about 40 titles. The global store has been reachable but unreliable: Chinese players lost access in December 2021, and it could be opened directly again by February 2023. The Steam Community, with its forums and profiles, has been blocked for years; PC Gamer reported the block in December 2017, and independent tests still found it blocked in 2026.
Steam’s other blocks have been brief and ended once Valve complied. Malaysia’s communications regulator blocked the whole store in September 2017 when Valve was slow to geoblock Fight of Gods, a fighting game featuring religious figures, and lifted the block after Valve removed the game there. Indonesia blocked Steam from 30 July to 2 August 2022, along with Epic Games, PayPal and Yahoo, for not registering under its licensing rules for online services.
Some restrictions are Valve’s own response to national rules. In December 2020 it hid many adult games from German users after a complaint by a German state media regulator, and since August 2025 UK users who want to see mature games must keep a credit card on their account, which Valve uses to check their age under the Online Safety Act.
Key dates
Steam starts requiring UK users to keep a credit card on file before viewing mature games, to comply with the Online Safety Act.
Vietnam blocks Steam through its telecom providers; the information ministry says it distributes unlicensed games and ignored requests.
Indonesia blocks Steam, Epic Games, PayPal and Yahoo for failing to register under its licensing rules; Steam returns on 2 August.
Chinese players lose access to Steam’s global store; KrASIA reports that China’s industry ministry has labelled its domain “illegal”.
Steam China opens as a separate client with only government-approved games, about 40 at launch.
Malaysia briefly blocks the whole Steam store after Valve is slow to geoblock Fight of Gods, a fighting game featuring religious figures.
Get past a block
Steam blocked where you are?
A VPN connects you through a server in another country, so a local block on Steam no longer applies. Where VPNs themselves are blocked, you need one that can disguise its traffic.
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We earn a commission if you buy through these links. It never changes what the monitor shows. Our disclosure.
History
Changes for Steam
No confirmed changes since monitoring began on 29 Sep 2026. When a block appears or lifts, and a re-check on several machines agrees, it shows up here.
Method
How we test
Test machines on the two biggest home-internet providers in most countries open the homepage every day.
A failure counts only when it happens twice on the same network, while the site opens from other countries.
A change is published only after re-checks a few hours later and again the next day, on several machines per provider, confirm it. It’s dated from the first sighting.
Test machines caught getting around blocks, through a VPN or a filter-dodging tool, are set aside.
We test websites, mostly over home broadband. Apps, calls and mobile networks can behave differently.
Vietnam’s broadcasting and electronic information authority said in May 2024 that Steam distributed games in Vietnam without a licence and never responded to its repeated requests, so it was blocked through Vietnamese telecom providers. Games already installed kept working, but the store and Steam’s online features stopped.
Is Steam Banned in China?
Not outright. Steam China, a separate client with only government-approved games, has run since February 2021. The global store has been disrupted at times, most seriously from December 2021, and the Steam Community, with its forums and profiles, has been blocked for years.
Which Countries Have Blocked Steam?
Vietnam has blocked it since May 2024. Indonesia blocked it from 30 July to 2 August 2022 over its registration rules, and Malaysia briefly in September 2017 over one game. China has long blocked the Steam Community and steers players to Steam China, a separate licensed version.
