HONG KONG (Reuters) – Apple removed 39,000 gaming apps from its Chinese store on Thursday, the largest removal ever in a single day, as it set the end of the year as the deadline for all game publishers to get a license.
Elimination comes amid crackdown on unlicensed gambling by Chinese authorities.
Including the 39,000 games, Apple removed more than 46,000 applications from its store on Thursday. The games affected by this game included the Ubisoft Assassin’s Creed Identity title and NBA 2K20, according to research firm Qimai.
Qimai also said that only 74 of the first 1,500 paid games on the Apple store survived the cleanup.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Apple initially gave game publishers a deadline in late June to send a government-issued license number to allow users to make in-app purchases on the world’s largest gaming market.
Apple later extended the deadline to December 31.
Android app stores in China have long complied with licensing regulations. It’s unclear why Apple is applying them more strictly this year.
Analysts said the move was not a surprise, as Apple continues to close gaps to comply with China’s content regulations and would not directly affect Apple’s bottom line as much as previous eliminations.
“However, this major pivot for accepting only paid games that have a gaming license, combined with China’s extremely small number of foreign gaming licenses approved this year, will likely cause more game developers to switch to a advertising model for their Chinese versions, ”said Todd Kuhns, marketing manager for AppInChina, a company that helps foreign companies distribute their applications.
Reporting by Pei Li; Edited by Alex Richardson