After just one night, Apple blew 39,000 game apps out of the Chinese App Store

Apple removed 39,000 game apps from the Chinese App Store on Thursday, the biggest deletion ever in just one day, as they set a year-end deadline for all game publishers to have a paperwork. allowed.

The takedowns come amid China's crackdown on unlicensed games. Including 39,000 games, Apple removed a total of more than 46,000 apps from its store on Thursday.

Games affected by the sweep include Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed Identity and NBA 2K20 titles, according to research firm Qimai. Qimai also said only 74 of the top 1,500 paid games on the Apple Store survived the purge.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Apple initially gave game publishers a deadline for the end of June to submit a number of government-issued licenses that allow users to make in-app purchases in the world's largest game market. But Apple later extended the deadline until December 31.

China's Android app stores have long been compliant with licensing regulations. It's not clear why Apple enforced them stricter this year.

Analysts said the move is completely understandable as Apple continues to block loopholes to comply with Chinese content regulators and will not directly affect Apple's bottom line as it once did. removed before.

'However, only accepting paid games with licenses, coupled with the extremely low number of Chinese foreign game licenses approved this year, is likely to lead to more game developers. shift to an ad-supported model for their Chinese version, 'said Todd Kuhns, chief marketing officer at AppInChina, a company that specializes in helping foreign companies distribute their apps.

Micah Soto

Update 01 January 2021