Update: Valve has registered with Kominfo and Steam is now unblocked in Indonesia. But Epic Games Store and Origin are still blocked at the time of updating.
Older article follows.
There is some bad news for Indonesian gamers – websites (services and platforms) including Steam and Epic are now banned in the country. Apart from these, even Origin and Battlenet are blocked at the moment, and if you are curious to know why, here’s the reason behind it.
Why are Steam, Epic and Battlenet Banned in Indonesia?
As per a tweet by Daniel Ahmad aka @ZhugeEX, “Companies that failed to register with Kominfo are now being blocked in Indonesia. This includes services such as Steam, Epic Games, etc.” Many players who are unable to purchase or buy games due to this, are using VPNs to override the restriction imposed.
As per this post on Nikopartners.com, there are companies and games that have not yet registered to Kominfo’s database and “failure to comply will be met with these steps – a formal warning, a monetary fine and access termination.” They further mention that the new regulation is a way to get information regarding the number of gaming companies which are operating in Indonesia. The government is seemingly trying to establish a connection between local and foreign game companies via internship opportunities and game jams. Plus, another reason could be to promote fairness in terms of tax-related issues in the gaming industry. To know more be sure to check their article and join the discussion of users on Resetera and Reddit.
Will Steam, Epic and other gaming services register and be accessible in Indonesia and revoke the ban? Most likely, they will or may have already done, as we speak. Indonesia is a big gaming market which companies certainly do not want to miss out on.
For more related to gaming, explore GamesAdda.