Apple Removes 39,000 Games From Chinese App Store

Apple on Thursday removed nearly 39,000 apps from its Chinese App Store due to unlicensed apps from local regulators, reports Reuters.

The report, which cites data from research firm Qimai, says games affected by the showdown included the Ubisoft title Assassin’s Creed Identity and NBA 2K20. According to Qimai, only 74 of the 1,500 top paid games on the Chinese App Store survived the purge.

In addition to the 39,000 games, the report states that Apple has also removed more than 46,000 total apps from its store.

In February, Apple gave app developers an initial deadline of June 30 to prove they had a license for their games, then extended the deadline to December 31. However, in July, the company froze updates for thousands of iOS mobile games without an official license, and in August, 30,000 apps were removed for similar reasons.

In July, Apple reportedly warned developers to remove apps if their apps failed to meet regulatory requirements. The removal of apps that lack official licenses is believed to come from growing government pressure on Apple to comply with local regulations in effect since 2016.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion on this topic, the discussion thread can be found in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the discussion thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.