Thousands of games have been removed from the Chinese version of the iOS App Store, a new report has revealed. The country has a very strict approval system for video games and in 2019, China's game regulator confirmed plans to deny poker and mahjong game licenses.
A new report by Sensor Tower revealed that more than 2,500 mobile games have been removed from the Chinese App Store as part of plans for stricter enforcement of China's game regulation rules. In February, Apple confirmed plans to adhere to China's National Press and Publication Administration policy that meant that come July 31, 2020, all premium mobile games or mobile games with microtransactions will be removed if they don't have an International Standard Book Number or ISBN, which is issued by the administration.
The removed games had made $37. million in China, with 133.4 million installs. Some of the surprising development teams on the list are Glu, Zynga, and Clash Royale developer Supercell which saw its game Hay Day removed in this wave.
Developers are able to enter their ISBN and documentation so that their games aren't just removed once the policy is more heavily enforced. These removals seem to be happening as games are being updated without having an ISBN. Data from the Google Play listing for Hay Day confirms that the game was updated on July 1, 2020, which would correspond with this report about the game's App Store removal.
The mobile games industry makes a huge amount of money each year and China is one of the biggest regions. Getting an ISBN is difficult and can take a long time though meaning that developers may have to wait until they can reach Chinese gamers.
Source: Sensor Tower