HONG KONG (Reuters) – Apple removed 39,000 game apps from its store in China on Thursday, the biggest removal in a single day, by setting the end of the year as a deadline for all game publishers to obtain a license.
The falls came amid a crackdown on games not licensed by Chinese authorities.
Including the 39,000 games, Apple removed more than 46,000 apps in total from its store on Thursday. Games affected by the scan included the Ubisoft title, Assassin’s Creed Identity and NBA 2K20, according to research firm Qimai.
Qimai also said that 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 June deadline to submit a government-issued license number that would allow users to make in-app purchases in the world’s largest game market.
Subsequently, Apple extended the deadline to December 31.
China’s Android app stores have long complied with license regulations. It is not clear why Apple is applying them more rigorously this year.
Analysts said the move was no surprise, as Apple continues to close loopholes to comply with China’s content regulators and would not directly affect Apple’s financial results as much as previous removals.
“However, this big pivot of accepting only paid games that have a gaming license, coupled with the extremely low number of foreign game licenses approved this year, is likely to lead more game developers to switch to an ad-supported model for its Chinese versions, ”said Todd Kuhns, marketing manager for AppInChina, a company that helps foreign companies distribute their applications.
Reporting by Pei Li; Edition by Alex Richardson