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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?
If the US opposes values Valve has then they should.
I’m not going to pretend Valve cares about these causes though.
Yes. Maybe then people will blame the ones actually responsible. If it makes overthrowing a magat government more likely, it's good on principle
Yes. Once the bread and circuses are gone, people will have lots of hunger and free time to ruminate on how hungry they are.
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It's called "complying with the law".
Strange then that Google and Apple didn't take it down. Valve made a choice and not a good one.
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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.
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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Yeah, I don't know why it's news at all. It happens in every other country with any amount of censorship, US included.
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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 ?
Lots of indie games yes, but not so many of the AAAs
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I play online games since counterstrike 1.4 came out. If russians lose access to online games, it would make every online game in europe better. It sucks for them, but maybe they need their own servers so they can be toxic to themselves.
People downvoting here probably don't realize how toxic Russian youth can be. They're a product of their environment and oh boy the environment is shit.
Why the fuck is Steam still in Russia?
CSGO trolls from Russia probably make up like 20% of their total revenue.
Why are they still in America?
Gabe needs НКВД money.
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These comments are shit. Who said that you should comply with Russia's laws???
People who love valve more than human rights
Money, I guess. GabeN needed a new yatch
'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.
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Surprised to not see it linked. Warning: despite being free, recent reviews point out how they’re pushing a monthly subscription to get all the cosmetics.
no good sides huh
“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.
Non-traditional as to the religion. Orthodox catholic church is fucked up in head, and lately been standing on a wrong side of many things. Even going so far to in-fight with each other for their statements. They are like The Mouth of Sauron - they preach on behalf of government and lately it feels that they spit to vile shit out of their mouth just to please their government.
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.
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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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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.
This is a very naive and ignorant take. In the major cities, quality of life is on part with EU for many.
Furthermore, even with demographic splits (e.g. russians aged 18-24, urban russians), all major demographic groups show at least strong majority support for chauvinism, authoritarianism and genocidal imperialism.
There are some variations of course. But it's more along the lines of overwhelming/near absolute majority support (e.g 50+) or strong majority support (18-34). You also find interesting variantions where "middle age" segments tend to be less supportive (on a relative basis, the segment as whole still shows strong majority support) of genocidal imperialism than young adults/early middle age (18-34); likely because they have more to lose.
Russians have the capability to build a better future for themselves (without invasions), they just don't want to because they haven't gotten a taste of their own medicine (where they are treated like they treat others).
EU is massive in enabling this attitude. Consider the fact that Merkel, even from retirement, is promoting russian genocidal imperialism by claiming that Poland and the Baltic nation are responsible for the full scale invasion:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/10/06/angela-merkel-poland-baltics-blame-ukraine-war/
When it's the russians and putin (a symptom, with the cause being russians) who are to blame for their own invasion.
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It's just sad.
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.
I mean, if you want to operate in a country, you follow their laws when in the country?
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this post was submitted on 29 Nov 2025
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