Access to Steam Banned in Vietnam — As of 7th June 2024 many Vietnamese users are reporting on facing an issue when trying to connect to the server. A workaround such as changing the DNS address can still work, however.
The rumour on Steam region lock in Vietnam has already been a thing for the last two months and was first started by local game developers allegedly demanding Steam to also comply with local law to operate in the region.
According to Vietnamnet, local devs complain that it is “an injustice to domestic publishers” and that “(they) will die” if Steam is still being set free by the government. The article said that the developers attempted to portray Steam as an illegal platform.
A Reddit post also leaked part of documents listing plenty of popular games sold on Steam and it is likely to be linked to the current situation.
Local news site VnExpress has attempted to reach out to the authorities about the current situation and they were told:
“Most platforms cooperate with authorities and comply with local laws. However, our agency has contacted Steam many times but the platform never responded, and therefore it was blocked.”
It is unknown what kind of demand the government wants Steam to cooperate with to keep operating in the Vietnam region.
Fortunately, the restriction at the moment is not a full ban as many users reported by simply changing the DNS or using any cheap VPN, the Steam Workshop can easily be accessed. This means the extra measures such as to change Steam region are still unnecessary.
Bottom line
Many Vietnamese report that as of 7th May 2024, they are unable to access Valve Steam Vietnam workshop page due to the government finally pushing the regulation to ban Steam for not complying with local laws. The push was allegedly initiated by local developers claiming that letting Steam run free, will kill the domestic publishers.
The good news is the ban is easily bypassed by using different DNS addresses or connecting through a VPN; meaning that an extreme measure such as Steam region change is not required.
