Aloft is entering Steam Early Access today. Developed by Astrolabe Interactive Inc, Aloft is a sandbox survival game where players can turn an island into a skyship and explore a world of floating islands. It’s an intriguing game with one major issue. The game is being published by Funcom, a video game developer who is owned by Chinese company Tencent.
Tencent, which was recently labelled as a “Chinese Military Company” by the United States Department of Defense.
Unfortunately, for the Canadian-based developer, the fact that Aloft is being published by a Chinese-owned company means that western gamers shouldn’t purchase it. Unsurprisingly, there is no disclosure or way of knowing that Funcom is owned by a Chinese entity when you look at the Steam page. Valve has yet to implement any policy that would force companies publishing their games on the platform to disclose any level of Chinese involvement (or Russian).
Whether it is as an investor or owner, any game published on Steam should provide such information for the sake of the consumer.
Of course, Funcom obfuscating Tencent’s involvement is not surprising. Over the past ten years, Chinese companies have undertaken steps to keep the fact of Chinese involvement out of the limelight as much as possible. One only needs to look at Snail Games USA as an example of a Chinese entity doing this.
Snail Games USA was originally known as Suzhou Snail Digital Technology Co, before switching its name to Snail Games around the same time it acquired USA-based developer Studio Wildcard which developed ARK: Survival Evolved. In fact, this particular company took measures to avoid mentioning that it is Chinese. It locked down its original X account, created a new one that everyone knows, and even tried to keep its purchase of Studio Wildcard under wraps.
With all that said, we would not recommend gamers purchase Aloft due to Funcom and Tencent’s involvement. At the very least, be aware of this fact and make sure to read Aloft’s third=party EULA agreement before purchasing the game.
Aloft is now in Steam Early Access for $24.99, buyer beware the Chinese bearing gifts.
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