November 18 Steam China appears to be hiring on new staff and launching official social media accounts, indicating its launch may be coming soon.

Valve's Chinese partner Perfect World will help bring Steam to the Chinese market. No launch date has yet been announced, and Valve promises that "no changes are planned for Steam's existing worldwide operations and services" as a result of the news. This week, Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad noted that Steam China was hiring up staff, and had launched an official account on Weibo - a micro-blogging site comparable to Twitter. Steam China will provide Chinese gamers and developers with a new way to access Steam's selection of games and entertainment. The move represents an extension of the partnership between Valve and Perfect World that began in 2012, when Perfect World's subsidiaries obtained the licence to operate Dota 2, and later Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, in China. Robert H. Xiao, Perfect World's CEO, says the company will introduce more games to China through Steam China, "providing quality content and improving the experience for both gamers and developers."