It had to eventually come to this, given Chinese distributor Perfect World’s long-standing relationship with Valve via Chinese Dota 2.

The company recently announced more details about the Chinese version of Valve’s digital distribution platform.

• Steam China will be called “Zhengqi Pingtai”, which is translated to “Steam Platform”.
• The platform will be entirely independent of Steam and will be Shanghai-based.
• It will be “tailored for Chinese users” and have “high-speed servers and high-quality operations teams”.
• The platform will have close to 40 games released in its first batch of titles. Titles include Dota 2 and Dota Underlords. The 40 games are available on regular Steam.

No prize for guessing why Steam China exists; the Chinese government and regulators need a platform specifically for a country that they can keep tabs on. Whether it’s close scrutiny from them or more rules and censorship for particular titles, or for Chinese game publishers to use to conform to regulators, Steam China could be a godsend for both parties.