Nearly 48,000 mobile games purged from Apple’s App Store in China in December 2020: Report

Nearly 48,000 mobile games were removed from Apple’s App Store in China during December 2020, according to Sensor Tower App Intelligence data.

“China’s mobile gaming regulations require that all titles receive a license from the country’s National Press and Publication Administration before release, confirming that the app meets the country’s strict rules on content,” the report said.

“Apple is now adhering to these regulations, which Android stores in the country were already enforcing, resulting in an exodus of unlicensed titles, affecting premium games and apps that include in-app purchases,” it further explained.

Publishers were given a previous deadline of July 31 to obtain a licence which had then been extended to December 2020.

Over 2,500 mobile games were removed from China’s App Store in the first seven days of July 2020, as per data from Sensor Tower. Five thousand five hundred games were removed by the end of July, while over 27,000 games were purged from the store in August.

“During the latest purge, December 31 saw the largest number of game removals, with more than 40,000 titles pulled from the marketplace in a single day,” Sensor Tower said.

As per the report, the games that have been removed from the store in 2020 had generated nearly $3 billion in lifetime revenue in China since January 2012. Overall, 55 games removed from the App Store in China in 2020 had gained over $10 million in revenue before going offline.

The games that were removed had also generated a combined 4.8 billion downloads in China since January 2012, as per the report.

Some of the most noteworthy games that were removed from China’s App Store in 2020 included Asphalt 8 from Gameloft, Fruit Ninja from Halfbrick, Hole.io from Voodoo, and Hay Day from Supercell.