With almost 77,000 simultaneous users, the “Wallpaper Engine” by 2 German developers is one of the 10 games on Steam with the most concurrent players. This has puzzled many for years. Now a new report explains what lies behind this anomaly.
This has always been a mystery on Steam:
- For a long time, among the most popular games in the world on Steam, there is an outlier: “the Wallpaper Engine.” It is the only “non-game” to be so high in the Steam charts.
- Even today, the “Wallpaper Engine” ranks 10th among the games with the most simultaneous players, between the MMOs Ark: Survival Evolved and Rust.
- A new report now solves the mystery of the enigmatic “Wallpaper Engine.”
What was so confusing about the Wallpaper Engine? That such a program stands at number 10 in concurrent users has always been a riddle. Because usually, only games stand that high on Steam.
The Wallpaper Engine is actually designed to create dynamic desktop backgrounds for Windows and costs 4 €. In 2017, the Engine was used for hero portraits in Overwatch.
The program was developed in October 2016 by two Germans who appear as the “Wallpaper Engine Team”.
In China, porn is banned – But Steam is allowed …
Why is the Engine so popular? As a report in “MIT Technology Review” explains, the program is heavily used by Chinese users, who use it as a kind of “Cloud Drive” to exchange files that are otherwise strictly prohibited in China. Especially porn:
“More than 200,000 Steam reviews are written in Chinese, from 2016 to 2022. These reviews revolve almost entirely around one thing: porn. Or more specifically, using the software as a Cloud Drive and video player to exchange adult content.”
According to the magazine, online pornography is heavily censored in China and is punishable by law. Steam is one of the only global platforms that is available in China. So, Chinese users have sought a creative way to distribute content via international high-speed servers.
Of the 1.6 million submissions of wallpapers, 7.5% were marked as “for adults.” Often these are anime characters in sexually explicit poses.
The German program became popular in China around 2020 through an article by journalist Cui Jaianyi: He discovered on the Wallpaper Engine, among other things, porn, hentai animes, Donald Trump memes, and pirated copies of Hollywood movies like “Joker”.
Such games usually come from Germany on Steam:
How do the developers react to this? The report quotes Kristjan Skutta, who was invited to an event in China in 2019 and was asked how his program was being used. He reportedly reacted to the question with a laugh and said:
“What’s wrong with that? The Wallpaper Engine is just a framework. It doesn’t matter what you upload with it – even crazy videos. I don’t think it’s a problem.”
The Chinese government might see it differently. Many Chinese people the magazine spoke to expressed fears that China might close the loophole on Steam.
Studio gives away acclaimed sex game on Steam to combat coronavirus
The title image is one of the currently most popular wallpapers on the site. It comes from a 20-second clip from the website bilibili.com
According to the magazine, online pornography is heavily censored in China and is punishable by law. Steam is one of the only global platforms that is available in China. So, Chinese users have sought a creative way to distribute content via international high-speed servers.
Of the 1.6 million submissions of wallpapers, 7.5% were marked as “for adults.” Often these are anime characters in sexually explicit poses.
The German program became popular in China around 2020 through an article by journalist Cui Jaianyi: He discovered on the Wallpaper Engine, among other things, porn, hentai animes, Donald Trump memes, and pirated copies of Hollywood movies like “Joker”.
Such games usually come from Germany on Steam:
How do the developers react to this? The report quotes Kristjan Skutta, who was invited to an event in China in 2019 and was asked how his program was being used. He reportedly reacted to the question with a laugh and said:
“What’s wrong with that? The Wallpaper Engine is just a framework. It doesn’t matter what you upload with it – even crazy videos. I don’t think it’s a problem.”
The Chinese government might see it differently. Many Chinese people the magazine spoke to expressed fears that China might close the loophole on Steam.
Studio gives away acclaimed sex game on Steam to combat coronavirus
The title image is one of the currently most popular wallpapers on the site. It comes from a 20-second clip from the website bilibili.com
