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CEO says "I want to make more money". Crowd responded "No shit".
I've seen a theory that Steam is holding, possibly even for a time when Sony puts it in writing that players won't need a PSN account permanently before they're willing to relist the game which I think is a fair desire at this point.
Steam doesn't control the region locks.
The publisher (Sony) is the one that makes changes to their store page which affects where it can be sold.
It’s like an administrator/tenant relationship. Generally, the publisher controls the region locks, but if the publisher starts doing something potentially illegal or brand-damaging, like selling a bricked game, the store owner can also manipulate the locks.
If they couldn’t, a dev’s efforts to willingly commit brand suicide by releasing a game that bricks people’s computers (not beyond the pale given how stupid publishers are now) would also take Steam down with them.
That makes sense, but I haven't seen any official announcement from Steam saying that they did this. Only speculation from random people. Any documentation I can find just seems to point to this being a decision that's made by the company releasing the game (or in this case Sony as the publisher).
Besides, only a few hours ago 3 new countries were added to the restricted list: https://steamdb.info/sub/137730/history/?changeid=23492083
I doubt that Steam is still trying to block additional countries given that Sony has already announced that the PSN account requirement is being withdrawn.
The thing with the 3 new countries seems to be a fix by valve, you might notice that there were several invalid country codes in the previous restricted list.
You see, if they get to sell it everywhere again then it will be a problem when Sony tries to pull that shit off again, can't have that
"Shut the fuck up and change your review back to positive"
Good luck bro. Even if you get it back probably not coming back as strong as it was.