Apple on Thursday removed nearly 39,000 apps from the Chinese App Store because the apps were not officially licensed by local regulators, reports Reuters.
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The report, which cites data from research firm Qimai, says games affected by the cull include Ubisoft title Assassin’s Creed Identity and NBA 2K20. According to Qimai, only 74 of the 1,500 paid games in the China App Store have survived the purge.
In addition to 39,000 games, the report says Apple has also removed a total of more than 46,000 apps from its store.
Apple gave app developers an initial deadline of June 30 in February to prove they had a license for their games, and later extended the deadline to December 31. However, in July, the company froze updates to thousands of mobile iOS games without an official license, and removed 30,000 apps in August for similar reasons.
Apple reportedly warned developers against removing apps in July should their apps fail to meet legal requirements. The removal of apps without official licenses would come from increasing government pressure on Apple to comply with local regulations that have been in place since 2016.
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