Notable games 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. Overall, 24 games that were pulled from China’s App Store had racked up over 10 million downloads there. Removed games had also generated a combined 4.8 billion downloads in China since January 2012, the biggest of which had accumulated 55.5 million installs in the country. In total, 55 games removed from the App Store there last year had accumulated more than $10 million in revenue prior to going offline. One title, released in 2019, had generated $85.5 million from player spending prior to its removal from China’s App Store in December. The games removed in 2020 had generated close to $3 billion in lifetime revenue in China since January 2012. There remains an opportunity for these games to return to the App Store. Our estimates include titles that we track those that have previously ranked on the store’s download or revenue charts. 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.

By the end of that month, 5,500 games were removed, while in August more than 27,000 games left the store. Prior to that date, more than 2,500 games were removed in the first seven days of July. Clamping DownĪ previous deadline of July 31 for publishers to obtain a licence had been extended to the end of the year. 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. Nearly 50,000 Mobile Games Purged From China’s App Store in December 2020Īpproximately 48,000 mobile games were removed from Apple’s App Store in China during December 2020 as publishers faced a crackdown on rule-breakers, according to Sensor Tower App Intelligence data.Ĭhina’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.

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