Video game distribution platform Steam is reportedly no longer available in Vietnam possibly at the request of local game developers, Game Developer is reporting. The article references an April 24 article published by Vietnam Net in which game developers lament that Steam does not need to conform to the same regulations as local game developers and this gives it an unfair advantage.
With respect to video games, local regulations state that game distributors must open a local office and be licensed to provide video games and that game scripts should be approved before games are disseminated per Decree 72/2013/ND. On a practical level, Vietnam simply does not have the resources to fully enforce these regulations. That said, from time to time the Ministry of Information and Communications, still likes to single out the occasional cross-border game provider. In April it was Netflix and now it looks like Steam, too.
Furthermore, the MIC has been pushing cross-border service providers to establish offices in Vietnam but few firms have yet compiled. Local offices would provide the MIC greater control over the content that is disseminated with an office to raid in the event a firm breaches its guidelines. TikTok, one of the few that has opened a local office, found itself subject to an audit by the MIC which found several breaches of a range of rules and regulations. As a result, cross-border service providers seem reluctant to open local offices.