HONG KONG (Reuters) – Apple on Thursday removed 39,000 game apps from its Chinese store, the largest removal ever in one day, as it set the end of the year as the deadline for all game publishers to obtain a license.
The removals come amid a crackdown on unlicensed games by the Chinese authorities.
Including the 39,000 games, Apple removed a total of more than 46,000 apps from the store on Thursday. According to research firm Qimai, the games affected by the sweep included the Ubisoft title Assassin’s Creed Identity and NBA 2K20.
Qimai also said only 74 of the 1,500 paid games in the Apple Store survived the purge.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Apple initially gave game publishers a deadline of late June to submit a government-issued license number that would allow users to make in-app purchases in the world’s largest games market.
Apple later extended the deadline to December 31.
The Chinese Android app stores have long been compliant with licensing regulations. It’s not clear why Apple is enforcing them more strictly this year.
Analysts said the move came as no surprise, as Apple continues to close loopholes in order to comply with Chinese content regulators, rather than affect Apple’s bottom line as much as previous removals.
“This important pivot of only accepting paid games with a game license, coupled with China’s extremely low number of foreign game licenses approved this year, will likely lead more game developers to switch to an ad-supported model for their Chinese versions. ”Says Todd Kuhns, marketing manager for AppInChina, a company that helps foreign companies distribute their apps.
Reporting by Pei Li; Editing by Alex Richardson