Steam, Epic and other digital storefronts are currently banned in Indonesia

Want to learn more about the future of the video game industry? Join gaming executives to discuss emerging parts of the industry in October at GamesBeat Summit Next. Sign up today.

Digital storefronts like Steam, Epic Games Store, Origin and others are currently banned in Indonesia. The Indonesian government has required that digital companies that have not registered with the government should not be whitelisted.

It turns out that a large number of companies have not registered with the government.

The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology of the Republic of Indonesia (Kominfo) pushed regulations against private electronic system providers in late July. According to gaming industry analyst firm Niko Partners, Kominfo has four main goals with regulation.

Establish a system of all ESPs operating in Indonesia Maintaining Indonesia's Digital Space Protecting public access to digital platforms Create a fair system between domestic and foreign ESPs, including tax collection

There are a couple of things in there that seem like puzzles. If Indonesia is trying to figure out who's selling what, that makes sense.

Event

MetaBeat 2022

MetaBeat will bring together thought leaders from across the Metaverse to advise on how Metaverse technology will transform the way all industries communicate and do business on October 3-4 in San Francisco, CA.

> register here

Sort of.

If a business sells an item on the internet and makes enough money in Indonesia to make registration worthwhile, that business will likely end up on Indonesia's list. But what if a company determines that Indonesia isn't worth it and doesn't register?

Actually, this is a list of all PES operating in Indonesia in the future. It's a slight difference, but it seems important.

If Valve decides not to sign up, hypothetically, then any Indonesian Steam user will suddenly not be able to access the games they have purchased. This seems to run counter to Kominfo's third goal, to protect public access to digital platforms. The public already had access to it, after all. This regulation could end up removing this access on any PSE that does not bother to register.

Similarly, Indonesians who use multiple online services for work, such as streamers, should keep their fingers crossed that everyone registers. YouTube is registered, but a quick look at the list of foreign companies does not show that Twitch has registered.

And even if Twitch is there, until all the different digital storefronts are whitelisted, what is a streamer going to stream?

But ignore the assumptions for a second. The first thing that jumped out at me was the age-old argument: physical versus digital. On Steam right now I have a library of several hundred titles. I installed a dozen of them.

If I lived in Indonesia, I would still technically own them, but I couldn't access or play them. The games I only own digitally. Usually the fear is that a digital storefront itself will disappear from the internet.

Now there is a new concern: if a country decides to ban a store.

Not an immediate problem. Chances are that all the major big companies will eventually register and give money to Indonesia for the privilege. Many of them are already realizing it.

This is just an ominous glimpse of what could happen one day.

The GamesBeat creed...