Apple will remove 94,000 unversioned games from the App Store in China this year

Apple has cleared tens of thousands of games from the Chinese App Store in 2020, and it is likely that more games will be removed from the shelves.

According to reports, following previous warnings to Chinese iOS developers and suspension of updates, Apple has now removed a large but unknown number of video game applications from the App Store in China. This is to comply with Chinese laws, and the cleanup started as early as July 2020.

As per the “Wall Street Journal” report, the affected apps are mainly paid game apps. Earlier, Apple issued a requirement that game apps in China need to enter the version number issued by the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film, and Television. The review will be conducted on July 31. After July 31, games that have not submitted an approved version number will be released in mainland China.

Estimates of the number of applications removed vary widely. The Wall Street Journal quoted the rights organization Campaign for Accountability as saying that 3,000 apps that exist in other App Store regions are not in the App Store in China.

However, the report also quoted the application business tracking company Sensor Tower as saying that Apple’s China App Store had 272,000 game apps last year, and 94,000 apps were removed from the Chinese App Store in 2020. From January to November 2020, Apple’s game revenue in China was US$13 billion. This is an increase of 14% over the same period in 2019, but revenue in 2019 has increased by 21% over 2018.

In addition, Apple’s latest leaked memo shows that Apple has warned Chinese developers this month that a new wave of paid game apps is at risk of being removed from its app store.

Furthermore, Apple has been facing criticism from companies such as “Fortnite” game developer Epic Games for its App Store policy. Apple recently lowered the App Store commission rate for small developers.

(Source)