Apple Removes 39,000 Games From China App Store

[MacRumors]

Apple on Thursday removed nearly 39,000 apps from its Chinese App Store due to the apps lacking an official license from local regulators, reports Reuters.

The report, which cites data from research firm Qimai, says that games affected by the cull included Ubisoft title Assassin's Creed Identity and NBA 2K20. According to Qimai, only 74 of the top 1,500 paid games on the China App Store survived the purge.

In addition to the 39,000 games, the report says Apple also removed more than 46,000 apps in total from its store.

Apple in February gave app developers an initial June 30 deadline to prove they had a license for their games, and later extended the deadline to December 31. However, in July the company froze updates for thousands of iOS mobile games lacking an official license, and in August removed 30,000 apps for similar reasons.

Apple in July reportedly warned developers of app removals, should their apps not meet regulatory requirements. The removal of apps lacking official licenses is said to come from increasing government pressure on Apple to comply with local regulations that have been in place since 2016.

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Article Link: Apple Removes 39,000 Games From China App Store

 

[spyguy10709]

I've never seen a better argument in favor of forcing Apple to allow apps from "unknown sources" to run on paying customers devices then this.

 

[goobot]

Kinda makes a tiktok ban understandable.

 

[tridley68]

Good 👍

 

[4jasontv]

Interesting spin. I prefer the headline ‘Most iOS Developers don’t bother with acquiring Chinese license’.

Apple’s hand was forced by the local government and the developers who have the autonomy to act on their own. So, either the developers are standing up against China, are lazy, or their game was essentially abandonware at launch.

Edit: I am confused by the downvotes that don't reply.

 

[nikaru]

One day we would end us with so much dump regulations that you wont be able to do anything without Government license aka approval. And it is not just China...Silicon Valley suffers from this as well.

 

[swingerofbirch]

Interesting spin. I prefer the headline ‘Most iOS Developers don’t bother with acquiring Chinese license’.

Apple’s hand was forced by the local government and the developers who have the autonomy to act on their own. So, either the developers are standing up against China, are lazy, or their game was essentially abandonware at launch.

They don't have the autonomy to act on their own.

China has the autonomy:

China is approving more foreign games, but not so many American ones

China has been a hard market to crack for non-Chinese game companies. But there's a shift in the climate for games imported into China, Niko Partners said.

venturebeat.com

 

[4jasontv]

They don't have the autonomy to act on their own.

China has the autonomy:

China is approving more foreign games, but not so many American ones

China has been a hard market to crack for non-Chinese game companies. But there's a shift in the climate for games imported into China, Niko Partners said.

venturebeat.com

Huh? Who doesn’t have autonomy?

 

[ericwn]

I've never seen a better argument in favor of forcing Apple to allow apps from "unknown sources" to run on paying customers devices then this.

Their oppression state will then block these sources as well I’m afraid.

 

[ericwn]

Kinda makes a tiktok ban understandable.

What, that’s banned in China now too?

 

[spyguy10709]

Their oppression state will then block these sources as well I’m afraid.

I mean, kind of hard to ban files from existence. Trust me, Metallica tried.

 

[amartinez1660]

Kinda makes a tiktok ban understandable.

I’m totally curious on the comparison here, this is what totally came to mind... “wow these guys do TikTok like bans but by the tens of thousands in there”.

Is it comparable? Are these game bans as harsh or as weird as the tiktok ban on the US? Read some comments about “licenses”, what are these licenses? Are they corruption free, transparent and accessible to anyone?

Because the numbers/quantity are staggering.

 

[goobot]

I’m totally curious on the comparison here, this is what totally came to mind... “wow these guys do TikTok like bans but by the tens of thousands in there”.

Is it comparable? Are these game bans as harsh or as weird as the tiktok ban on the US? Read some comments about “licenses”, what are these licenses? Are they corruption free, transparent and accessible to anyone?

Because the numbers/quantity are staggering.

What, that’s banned in China now too?

When a country is banning your software just to give their own an edge, why let them not only release theirs in our market but then let it pull lots data from people which it can then use however it wants without any potential consequence.

 

[Mike_Trivisonno]

What a total henpecking move by the Chinese government.

 

[rictus007]

Just a reminder that Tiktok available in US. This is possible in a government composed of 3 powers. President Trump can do/say whatever he wants as far as it survives our court system. .... I’m not saying there’s no corruption, that’s another issue

 

[contacos]

Their oppression state will then block these sources as well I’m afraid.

macrumors is even blocked in China

 

[Agit21]

You guys like censorship in the US SO SUCK IT UP

 

[Plutonius]

macrumors is even blocked in China

PRSI would not go over well in China .

 

[haruhiko]

What a pity that Trump didn’t have enough time to do the same in the US. /s

 

[az431]

I've never seen a better argument in favor of forcing Apple to allow apps from "unknown sources" to run on paying customers devices then this.

Is it just this law that people should be able to circumvent or are you also ok with allowing apps from "unknown sources" to circumvent bans on child pornography?

 

[ericwn]

I mean, kind of hard to ban files from existence. Trust me, Metallica tried.

It will be suppressed like anything critical is being suppressed their already. Offenders might have the chance to get a tour of one of the famous educational camps or just get arrested like regular critics do there.

 

[Freeangel1]

AWESOME! China is responsible for the COVID outbreak devastating the world. They want to overtake the USA economy.

 

[ericwn]

When a country is banning your software just to give their own an edge, why let them not only release theirs in our market but then let it pull lots data from people which it can then use however it wants without any potential consequence.

As in, you don’t wanna do business with an oppressive regime or as an eye for an eye approach to see who can sink the lowest when it comes to censorship. Not sure that’s an area you want to expand on.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

Is it just this law that people should be able to circumvent or are you also ok with allowing apps from "unknown sources" to circumvent bans on child pornography?

Yes, that’s totally okay. The open Internet already exists - cp will be distributed vis that whether or not apps can be downloaded via “unknown sources”.

Shutting down freedom of expression for everyone because a select few people are reprehensible doesn’t make sense.

 

[ericwn]

macrumors is even blocked in China

That wouldn’t surprise me.