The Reason Why PSN is not available in most countries compared to Steam

[101]

Hello this my first post on Icon. I Don't usually like Posting but the whole steam and PSN debacle is bothering me because I always thought that it is common knowledge and steam being ban in Vietnam is prove of it.

The fact that most people is ignorance of it is baffling. So this Thread is Kinda Like a PSA.

This is the simple break down of how they operate.

-Sony.
Sony went through the government following the proper channel by registering and getting the permit to operate in the country. Even if Sony is not directly involve, they have a distributor acting as a third party representing Sony in that country. This might be the reason why PSN is not available in the Philippines even if Playstation is officially supported in the Philippines. (Everything involving the Govt take a long time)

-Nintendo.
Nintendo probably only register in Japan, U.S,A, and Part of Europe. They most likely don't have the license to operate legally in most country.

-Steam.
Steam probably follow the way of Nintendo. They most likely doesn't have the license to operate their store in most country. That is the reason that Steam is ban in Vietnam. Vietnam want their Tax, permit, and Office which Steam never gave them.

-Xbox.
Same way like Steam and Nintendo. Which is strange because Microsoft does have a lot of office around the world even Vietnam. As you know Xbox is also ban in Vietnam. Which mean MS never bother to register XBox in Vietnam (LoL). This just show how much MS care about XBox.

-Amazon.
Amazon is still mostly a Physical store not digital. They are mostly safe until they become mostly digital store. Amazon is safe because they still pay tax (Cusoms Tax). Amazon calculate and pay the tax for you (included in your payment).

-Target, Walmart, and etc.
Not available in most country probably to much of a hassle to do.

-Epic (LoL) I Almost forget about Epic.
Epic probably the same as Steam.

This Beg the question about moblie like google store. Google store is safe because most of the payment is handle by their provider. The provider help Google pay local tax.

Since the whole digital store is kinda new this put to question about Netflix. Do they use Steam or PSN busines model.

The fact that government of Vietnam notice and enforce the rule is a miracle. Most government is slow when it come to tech, they usually have to play catch up. Even if they know most won't bother because it is a hassle to them. Veitnam Steam user is around 1.2% I think the Govt start to realize how much money the have been missing out.

I know alot of you have been calling out PC user as pirate which is kinda funny. Thier biggest digital store are actual pirate, steam have been stealing all those poor country out of their tax.

P.S. I don't hate or dislike Steam. I actually like how the whole Digital store work right now. What bother me is that is how people is ignorance of it. I always assume people know about it. I realized how ignorance most people are about it is when I saw podcast with grumm in it and nobody know how Steam and PSN work.

 

[Fenton]

The PC neckbeards can cry and stomp their feet and review bomb...Sony will go ahead with PSN-Steam account linking.
Other companies did it and I didn't see so much outrage.

 

[Gediminas]

Hello this my first post on Icon. I Don't usually like Posting but the whole steam and PSN debacle is bothering me because I always thought that it is common knowledge and steam being ban in Vietnam is prove of it.

The fact that most people is ignorance of it is baffling. So this Thread is Kinda Like a PSA.

This is the simple break down of how they operate.

-Sony.
Sony went through the government following the proper channel by registering and getting the permit to operate in the country. Even if Sony is not directly involve, they have a distributor acting as a third party representing Sony in that country. This might be the reason why PSN is not available in the Philippines even if Playstation is officially supported in the Philippines. (Everything involving the Govt take a long time)

-Nintendo.
Nintendo probably only register in Japan, U.S,A, and Part of Europe. They most likely don't have the license to operate legally in most country.

-Steam.
Steam probably follow the way of Nintendo. They most likely doesn't have the license to operate their store in most country. That is the reason that Steam is ban in Vietnam. Vietnam want their Tax, permit, and Office which Steam never gave them.

-Xbox.
Same way like Steam and Nintendo. Which is strange because Microsoft does have a lot of office around the world even Vietnam. As you know Xbox is also ban in Vietnam. Which mean MS never bother to register XBox in Vietnam (LoL). This just show how much MS care about XBox.

-Amazon.
Amazon is still mostly a Physical store not digital. They are mostly safe until they become mostly digital store. Amazon is safe because they still pay tax (Cusoms Tax). Amazon calculate and pay the tax for you (included in your payment).

-Target, Walmart, and etc.
Not available in most country probably to much of a hassle to do.

-Epic (LoL) I Almost forget about Epic.
Epic probably the same as Steam.

This Beg the question about moblie like google store. Google store is safe because most of the payment is handle by their provider. The provider help Google pay local tax.

Since the whole digital store is kinda new this put to question about Netflix. Do they use Steam or PSN busines model.

The fact that government of Vietnam notice and enforce the rule is a miracle. Most government is slow when it come to tech, they usually have to play catch up. Even if they know most won't bother because it is a hassle to them. Veitnam Steam user is around 1.2% I think the Govt start to realize how much money the have been missing out.

I know alot of you have been calling out PC user as pirate which is kinda funny. Thier biggest digital store are actual pirate, steam have been stealing all those poor country out of their tax.

P.S. I don't hate or dislike Steam. I actually like how the whole Digital store work right now. What bother me is that is how people is ignorance of it. I always assume people know about it. I realized how ignorance most people are about it is when I saw podcast with grumm in it and nobody know how Steam and PSN work.

steambots are

 

[Yurinka]

Hello this my first post on Icon. I Don't usually like Posting but the whole steam and PSN debacle is bothering me because I always thought that it is common knowledge and steam being ban in Vietnam is prove of it.

The fact that most people is ignorance of it is baffling. So this Thread is Kinda Like a PSA.

This is the simple break down of how they operate.

-Sony.
Sony went through the government following the proper channel by registering and getting the permit to operate in the country. Even if Sony is not directly involve, they have a distributor acting as a third party representing Sony in that country. This might be the reason why PSN is not available in the Philippines even if Playstation is officially supported in the Philippines. (Everything involving the Govt take a long time)

-Nintendo.
Nintendo probably only register in Japan, U.S,A, and Part of Europe. They most likely don't have the license to operate legally in most country.

-Steam.
Steam probably follow the way of Nintendo. They most likely doesn't have the license to operate their store in most country. That is the reason that Steam is ban in Vietnam. Vietnam want their Tax, permit, and Office which Steam never gave them.

-Xbox.
Same way like Steam and Nintendo. Which is strange because Microsoft does have a lot of office around the world even Vietnam. As you know Xbox is also ban in Vietnam. Which mean MS never bother to register XBox in Vietnam (LoL). This just show how much MS care about XBox.

-Amazon.
Amazon is still mostly a Physical store not digital. They are mostly safe until they become mostly digital store. Amazon is safe because they still pay tax (Cusoms Tax). Amazon calculate and pay the tax for you (included in your payment).

-Target, Walmart, and etc.
Not available in most country probably to much of a hassle to do.

-Epic (LoL) I Almost forget about Epic.
Epic probably the same as Steam.

This Beg the question about moblie like google store. Google store is safe because most of the payment is handle by their provider. The provider help Google pay local tax.

Since the whole digital store is kinda new this put to question about Netflix. Do they use Steam or PSN busines model.

The fact that government of Vietnam notice and enforce the rule is a miracle. Most government is slow when it come to tech, they usually have to play catch up. Even if they know most won't bother because it is a hassle to them. Veitnam Steam user is around 1.2% I think the Govt start to realize how much money the have been missing out.

I know alot of you have been calling out PC user as pirate which is kinda funny. Thier biggest digital store are actual pirate, steam have been stealing all those poor country out of their tax.

P.S. I don't hate or dislike Steam. I actually like how the whole Digital store work right now. What bother me is that is how people is ignorance of it. I always assume people know about it. I realized how ignorance most people are about it is when I saw podcast with grumm in it and nobody know how Steam and PSN work.

Welcome!

Yes, there must be a lot of legal issues, paperworks, taxes etc. to operate in each country. And well, game revenue is focused in a few countries. My country is top 10-11 in game revenue and generates under 2% of the global revenue.

Meaning, these countries under the top 75-80 must generate way under 1% of the global revenue each, maybe maximum 2-3% all of them combined. So pretty likely they consider that this business volume isn't big enough to compensate all these related costs (add here localization of the whole store including all games descriptions to whatever new languages from these additional stores).

 

[Johnic]

Nintendo actually supports account creation in all countries, they just don't offer official store support in all of them. That's something Sony can do.

There's a lot of legal hurdling a company has to go through to set these stores up in these countries. The reason they don't do it is because it's not worth the time and money. These are mostly 3rd world countries, with low living standards and a very tiny market for these things.

But it shouldn't be too much issue to just add those countries to the drop down list when creating account. Would alleviate all these issues.

 

[Systemshock2023]

Nintendo actually supports account creation in all countries, they just don't offer official store support in all of them. That's something Sony can do.

There's a lot of legal hurdling a company has to go through to set these stores up in these countries. The reason they don't do it is because it's not worth the time and money. These are mostly 3rd world countries, with low living standards and a very tiny market for these things.

But it shouldn't be too much issue to just add those countries to the drop down list when creating account. Would alleviate all these issues.

Yeah Sony should decouple their store from PSN accounts. But they barely added star ratings for their products last year... so go figure how long such an update would take. Their online infrastructure must be held with duct tape. You are the console leader and Nintendo is doing it better ffs ...

 

[101]

Welcome!

Yes, there must be a lot of legal issues, paperworks, taxes etc. to operate in each country. And well, game revenue is focused in a few countries. My country is top 10-11 in game revenue and generates under 2% of the global revenue.

Meaning, these countries under the top 75-80 must generate way under 1% of the global revenue each, maybe maximum 2-3% all of them combined. So pretty likely they consider that this business volume isn't big enough to compensate all these related costs (add here localization of the whole store including all games descriptions to whatever new languages from these additional stores).

Yes, that is probably why PSN is slow compare to steam. That is why Steam have everything to gain and nothing to lose. If Sony does anything illegal the government can easily confiscate any asset Sony has in that country. While Steam has nothing, so there is nothing anyone can do if Steam decide to pull out.

Nintendo actually supports account creation in all countries, they just don't offer official store support in all of them. That's something Sony can do.

There's a lot of legal hurdling a company has to go through to set these stores up in these countries. The reason they don't do it is because it's not worth the time and money. These are mostly 3rd world countries, with low living standards and a very tiny market for these things.

But it shouldn't be too much issue to just add those countries to the drop down list when creating account. Would alleviate all these issues.

I have been wondering about that. It look simple but I am not a programmer, so I am not sure why Sony haven't done that yet.

Edit.
After thinking about I think it is possible that may PSN cannot create a separate account between the country they support and the country the don't support. That mean that the unsupported acc can be use to buy game. I don't think PSN infrastructure in is ready for it. I think they need to do an extensive reprogramming.

 

[Yurinka]

Yes, that is probably why PSN is slow compare to steam. That is why Steam have everything to gain and nothing to lose. If Sony does anything illegal the government can easily confiscate any asset Sony has in that country. While Steam has nothing, so there is nothing anyone can do if Steam decide to pull out.

We also have to consider that Steam is a digital only store.

PSN instead is part of their console business tied to their propietary physical hardware, software and accesory sales. Meaning, pretty likely there's some physical sales specific related paperwork, legal stuff, permits, taxes, etc. that PSN must follow that doesn't applies to digital only PC stores like Steam.

Nintendo actually supports account creation in all countries, they just don't offer official store support in all of them. That's something Sony can do.

There's a lot of legal hurdling a company has to go through to set these stores up in these countries. The reason they don't do it is because it's not worth the time and money. These are mostly 3rd world countries, with low living standards and a very tiny market for these things.

But it shouldn't be too much issue to just add those countries to the drop down list when creating account. Would alleviate all these issues.

True

 

[101]

We also have to consider that Steam is a digital only store.

PSN instead is part of their console business tied to their propietary physical hardware, software and accesory sales. Meaning, pretty likely there's some physical sales specific related paperwork, legal stuff, permits, taxes, etc. that PSN must follow that doesn't applies to digital only PC stores like Steam.



True

The Digital Store is still a new Frontier in most country. I don't think they have a specific law about digital game. The important part is not what we think its what the government in that country think. In my experience in govt tax agent, they could easily apply digital sale into custom tax. To them it does not matter whether its digital or physical they will put it in the gaming category and ask you to pay it as a custom tax for importing a game.

I find it strange that Vietnam want go after steam. With the recent influx of investment in Vietnam from big company like Samsung and etc. They would be busy dealing with all those investment coming in.

 

[anonpuffs]

If this is true it'd be fucking hilarious if Sony went to all these little countries and filed complaints against all the digital stores that arent paying taxes and got them blocked

 

[Yurinka]

If this is true it'd be fucking hilarious if Sony went to all these little countries and filed complaints against all the digital stores that arent paying taxes and got them blocked

Sony won't do this. They simply won't list their MP games in Steam for unsupported countries.

In the Steam Workshop settings publishers can choose which countries are supported by their games, and Steam doesn't show these games in the stores when the user says that is in such countries. In the same way, publishers set different pricings per country on Steam.

 

[anonpuffs]

Sony won't do this. They simply won't list their MP games in Steam for unsupported countries.

In the Steam Workshop settings publishers can choose which countries are supported by their games, and Steam doesn't show these games in the stores when the user says that is in such countries. In the same way, publishers set different pricings per country on Steam.

I know they won't. I'm just saying it'd be funny if they did.

 

[Yurinka]

I know they won't. I'm just saying it'd be funny if they did.

It would be a bit like this:

 

[Muddasar]

LOL at the idiots who asked for refunds in Non PSN countries simply to support the cause.

Only to be thrown under the bus and no longer able to buy the game.

Well done.

 

[Yobo]

So the home of pirates also love themselves some tax fraud

We should report Steam in countries where it isn't paying tax

 

[arvfab]

Just thought that changing the PSN ToS regarding registering accounts in other countries (which they never enforced anyway) would actually be the easiest and quickest solution to all this mess, without having to officially support those countries.

This way they would return to the previous status-quo and could enforce PSN linking without any problems.

I'm also pretty curious to know how they will handle Bungie games in the future regarding PSN accounts.

 

[uyoung1989]

This is actually true. I’m from China, I can confirm this. The legal “official” mainland Steam or PS Store has extremely limited games (PS5 has less than 20). Most PS players register Hong Kong PSN accounts for gaming. And most PC players don’t use the official Steam China Store too. They use the native Steam Store which is actually a grey area and risky in legal level.

 

[Gediminas]

This is actually true. I’m from China, I can confirm this. The legal “official” mainland Steam or PS Store has extremely limited games (PS5 has less than 20). Most PS players register Hong Kong PSN accounts for gaming. And most PC players don’t use the official Steam China Store too. They use the native Steam Store which is actually a grey area and risky in legal level.

Thanks for insight.
We would gladly listen more nuances about your country's gaming landscaped.