Malaysia Unbans Steam After Valve Removes Fight of Gods

After banning the entire Steam store and all its many games, Malaysia reversed the ban following the removal of Fight of Gods from the game store.

For those that missed out on the initial controversy, Fight of Gods is a traditional fighting game that includes a religious roster featuring gods and other iconic figures that span different religions. With fighters like Zeus, Odin, Moses, and fighting arenas like Mount Olympus and the Garden of Eden, the game doesn't poke at any religion in particular and instead pulls a bit from around the world.

But the Malaysian government didn't take too well to two additions to the early access game's roster: Jesus and Buddha. A new trailer that was released for the two fighters, shown above, showed the two trading punches in a religious beatdown. In response to the game's chosen fighters, Malaysia essentially shutdown the Steam store in the country by restricting access to it – no games could be looked for, none could be downloaded, nothing could happen within the store.

If the controversial fighting game could be removed from the store, it seemed like all would be fine in Malaysia as long as the game wasn't on the table for players to purchase. In order to return access to the Steam store to Malaysian players, that's exactly what happened as Valve held discussions with the game's developer, Digital Crafter. The game has since been taken out of the Steam store, an action that prompted the return of the store to all PC gamers in the region.

"We have contacted the developer, removed the game, and are attempting to make contact with the officials in Malaysia to remove the block," Valve's communication's boss Doug Lombardi told GamesBeat. "We apologize for any inconvenience."

Though the ban has mostly been lifted, there are still some reports of players not being able to access the Steam store through certain Internet providers. All players will likely have access to the store again in due time, but Jesus and Buddha won't be waiting for them this time.

Fight of Gods is currently available in early access through Steam.