The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission may have annoyed gamers across the country, but its swift action against Steam has been lauded by religious leaders. According to newspaper reports, Christian and Buddhist groups have thanked the commission for immediately banning the controversial Fight of Gods.
Steam, the world’s most popular game distribution platform, was blocked for about 12 hours in Malaysia after it failed to meet an MCMC deadline to geoblock the offensive fighting game. For many, it felt like a heavy handed approach in tackling what was going to be yet another piece of shovelware.
Still, the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism deputy president R.S. Mohan Shan thanked the government for listening to his concerns and immediately banning the game. He also asked that the government continue to monitor the situation to ensure that Malaysians do not illegally download the game.
Similarly, the Council of Churches Malaysia (CCM) said that it commends the swift action taken against the game that included Jesus among its roster of fighters. The CCM also thanked Steam for taking quick action to comply with the MCMC’s request.
The blocking of the Steam store in Malaysia began making headlines across international media as soon as it happened. It was the first time in the world that the store had been blocked over a single game; mostly due to Valve’s willingness to cooperate with local governments to remove selected titles.
However, it would have seemed that the company failed to move fast enough to meet the MCMC’s 24 hour deadline. Although that may have something to do with the 16 hour time difference between Kuala Lumpur and its headquarters in Bellevue.
The Steam store is yet again operational in Malaysia after Valve moved quickly to remove the offending game.
[Source: The Sun]
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