Reports have suggested that Steam’s digital storefront is blocking LGBTQ+ content in accordance with Chinda’s “local laws and regulations.” Given the country’s policies around LGBTQ+ people and content, that might not be surprising, especially as Steam has agreed to censorship before. 

But what’s actually happening might be a lesser compromise.

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The first reports of the issue came from user Neha on Resetera, who posted a screenshot of Steam with an error message in Chinese, which translates to “An error occurred while processing your request: The content on this page has been identified as inappropriate because it violates local laws and regulations, and therefore cannot be viewed from your current location.”

After that, Yi Ling, who goes by Teacher Li Is Not Your Teacher and is an anti-Chinese government activist, posted a similar screenshot of the message. The Valve Corporation, which owns and operates Steam, has not confirmed the error message or the cause.

However, while some outlets and posters on social media have stated that Steam is blocking LGBTQ+ content from being accessed at all in China, the censorship here seems to halt one step short of that. Neha explains that the issue is with the search and filter option, and the message appears when a user tries to search specifically for games that carry the LGBTQ+ tag. If browsing games through other means, titles with the LGBTQ+ tag are still available for purchase and access on Steam.

That censorship by Steam in China remains a major problem. While homosexuality was decriminalized in the country in 1997, LGBTQ+ representation is extremely limited by the Chinese government. Steam’s blocking the ability to search for the LGBTQ+ tag means that queer people in China don’t have a reliable way to find representation of their identities in the video games they play, and we’ve seen time and again how important representation can be.

China is known for having restrictive internet and censorship laws, but as the warning comes up on Steam’s own storefront rather than through an internet service provider or browser message, it means that Steam is party to this censorship.

It is worth noting, however, that while it is disappointing, Steam is hardly alone in bowing to Chinese censorship. Many major movies, notably from Disney, keep much of their LGBTQ+ content limited to small scenes that can easily be cut from the release in foreign markets. China makes up a large part of the market share for movie and video game sales, so companies often do not wish to risk losing income from that space.

Steam’s limitations on LGBTQ+ searches in China come after a worse degree of censorship was discovered in its Russia storefront. PC Gamer reported in 2024 that Steam had removed over 260 “materials” from the Russian storefront because the country’s media regulator, Roskomnadzor, said they included “illegal content.”

Last year, Video Game Industry Memo reported that Flick Solitaire, a digital card game with LGBTQ+ content, was removed because Russian censors said it promoted “non-traditional relationships.”