On the year-end deadline for all game publishers to obtain a license in communist China, Apple removed 39,000 game apps on its App Store in the country on Thursday, the biggest removal ever in a single day.
The takedowns come amid a crackdown on unlicensed games by Chinese authorities.
Including the 39,000 games, Apple removed more than 46,000 apps in total from its store on Thursday.
Apple initially gave game publishers an end-of-June deadline to submit a government-issued licence number enabling users to make in-app purchases in the world’s biggest games market.
Apple later extended the deadline to December 31.
MacDailyNews Note: Apple has been forced to remove tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of apps from the App Store in China over recent years.