Why the fuck is Steam still in Russia?
this post was submitted on 29 Nov 2025
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Gabe needs НКВД money.
CSGO trolls from Russia probably make up like 20% of their total revenue.
💲💲💲
For the rubles, of course.
'This isn't "wokeness", it's basic human rights and equality and nothing more,' he added. 'If Steam can't support free speech of LGBTQ+ people, then at the very least they should be transparent about this.'
What a bizarre response. Neither Roskomnadzor nor Valve claimed this had anything to do with "'wokeness,'" and Steam was in fact transparent about this.
I don't really get what anyone expects Valve to do here other than comply with the law. Still, I'm surprised they're even able to operate in Russia given all the sanctions.
Pulling out of Russia entirely is an option. It's not like they're relying on them to stay in business.
Well, given the sanctions, this ought to be a given. I don't understand how valve can operate in Russia at all tbh.
Right? That was my question, why are they operating there at all right now
Valve had a big piracy problem in russia and it was ofc because of service issues. While I obviously don't agree with this censorship and would prefer valve to entirely pull out of russia, I can see why they are absolutely not doing that. They want to provide the best PC gaming store service across the world, and they don't want competitors or piracy to eat into their sales
The sanctions did impact Steam's operations in Russia. Russian users currently can't use any payment methods to buy games aside from Steam Wallet funds.
Then yeah, I'm surprised valve is cooperating. I suppose they are planning for the future, should the sanctions end.
It is, but the alternative is that everything would get pirated instead. And like Trump, Russia is fishing for a "woke" escape goat to continue to come up with excuses to shut down exposure outside of the state controlled media, which Steam provides.
If Steam goes out of Russia, there will be a state sanctioned pirate streaming service for games, and it will include spyware. Steam isn't just one entity, it is an entity for every country it decides to operate in.
Still, I'm not going to complete defend Valve on this, but at least they aren't pulling a "many gamers complained about this and we listened" card. They also didn't remove the game from the store in its entirely just because Russia was complaining, but limited access to it locally.
Maybe Valve should get out of Russia, but I don't see this negatively affecting Russians as much as it will make the bubble they live in even more closed off. VPNs would be an alternative if Russia wasn't criminalizing them.
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They could just not comply? What's Russia gonna do, nuke Gaben's yacht?
They ignored (legitimate) youth protection laws long enough, they could ignore this one, too.
? Curious, any good places to look into this?
Are you sure about that? Apple.
Google, fair enough, but I don't know to what extent they actually do business in Russia. Can you buy a pixel in Russia?
You couldn't buy a Pixel in Russia even before the sanctions.
Google did pause most of their Russian business. They don't pay YouTube creators, don't allow Google Play purchases, and while Google Workspace is available, it's only with a non-Russian payment method. All the free online stuff is available same as before. They don't comply with Roskomnadzor's requests for content takedowns as far as I know (I might be wrong since I moved out of Russia and stopped paying close attention to it).
But in the end, it all comes down to business. Apple sells their devices through "unofficial retailers" that were pretty official before sanctions. They have a much stronger business presence there. Google doesn't, and they don't have as much to lose so they can afford this PR stunt. I'm certain that if Google's Russian business was stronger, they wouldn't be so uncompromising.
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I don’t really get what anyone expects Valve to do here other than comply with the law.
Lol.
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“Non-traditional”? Homosexuality has been around and recorded since the Romans and even prior. 2000+ years isn’t traditional? That’s just as long as Christianity.
It's a dictatorship. It's not logic. Fuck the Kremlin.
It was illegal in the UK till the mid 60s, Russia is still holding out
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When "the right thing to do" enters in conflict with "what maximises profits", businesses almost always pick the later.
What makes this decision particularly stark is the response from other tech giants. The same censorship notice was sent to Apple and Google, as the game has been available on their Russian mobile stores since 2020. Both companies reportedly ignored the request, leaving Flick Solitaire available for download.
It's a matter of relative power.
This sucks.
However, I think it is important for Steam to continue operating in Russia: by seeing the living standards of other people across the world, younger Russians will develop those same expectations. Everyday things like furnishings, food, how people treat each other, and so forth. When the Russia we know dies, it will be important for the Russians of the future to have ideas and desires to drive them forward. Also, Russian authorities won't be able to fully inspect ALL media for LGBTQ+, which means that people will see something that they "shouldn't".
In the long run, the media that people consume will determine how they feel their nation should become. It is my hope that Putin's Russia will die in the coming years, and a better nation born from the ashes.
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What's the alternative? They have to obey the law, right? What should they have done? How is this "bowing to Kremlin" as if they're kneeling, waiting to suck their dick or something.
Genuinely curious about these questions.
The alternative is to stop doing business with Russia.
They can be part of the problem, or part of the solution.
They chose the problem.
The alternative is to stop doing business in places where laws are being used to restrict the games available.
Don't get me wrong, fuck the russian government and the horse they rode in on, but unless you have a defend-able reason that russia should be singled out in this context your argument is emotional rhetoric and little else.
You could perhaps narrow that down to a subset of applicable laws, but i'd lay good money that any group/type of laws you pick are not go only contain russia and still be able to be considered a reasonable argument.
How is valve doing business with Russia? Are they selling games to the government? Games are for the public, right? The public isn't at war, Putin is.
Let me know if this is a bad take, what am I missing.
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I don't see how it advances any objective like Ukraine or identity politics issue by Valve not being in Russia. On the contrary, the more people buy from valve puts currency strain on Russia and exports western culture to them.
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Your choice as Valve here is to either delist or not be in Russia. It is easy for me, as someone not in Russia, to cheer Valve to fight the good fight. But, it would suck if I were in Russia and suddenly lost access to my games.
But, it would suck if I were in Russia and suddenly lost access to my games.
Another reason not to rely on steam as a central point of failure.
Not a defense, but aren't a lot of the steam games at least runnable without the front end?
Not as much as GOG obviously, but some ?
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This is the most sane take I've seen. It's honestly weird how ignorant this thread is, regional censorship is not new. Australia has a habit of banning violent games. The Middle East and China have a habit of censoring all sorts of things. Many countries have their own laws of what is and isn't okay and they fluctuate all the time. My friend in Germany couldn't play Wolfenstein because any games with Nazi imagery were illegal until relatively recently.
Literally every company that operates in those countries also censor their stuff. The only reason this article exists is because [thing but Russia] gets more clicks and outrage compared to [thing in fifty other countries]. You're free to hate Steam for it but this isn't weird or exclusive behavior. They're running a business.
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I mean, if you want to operate in a country, you follow their laws when in the country?
How about having some fucking backbone?
That's how to cease operating in a country.
Valve should cease operating in Russia.
Also, Valve with every other company should already have been ordered to stop operating in Russia by their respective countries.
I don't disagree.
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So?
It's not as simple as about backbone. I agree that ethics are a good reason to stop doing business with an individual but if a company like Valve were to pull out of every country based on ethical matters, they'd need to found their own country.
Not every country wants people like me dead.
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I agree with folks that they should just pull out of the country and tell customers its because of their countries laws preventing them from doing business there.
I wonder if the same people who say Steam should pull out of Russia would agree that Steam should also pull out from the US. I mean, that's what should happen given the basis of the arguments being used, right?
These comments are shit. Who said that you should comply with Russia's laws???
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Takes games put in cart for black Friday sale out of cart. Goes outside instead.
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