Apple closes Chinese App Store loophole, causing thousands of games to be removed

Apple will start removing thousands of games from its Chinese App Store in July as a result of a policy that requires all paid games or games with in-app purchases to be licensed by Chinese regulators, Bloomberg reports. The action marks the end of a loophole that allowed developers to sell games on the platform while they were awaiting approval.

Chinese regulators can reportedly take months to approve games, giving developers the chance to profit from titles that otherwise risk being banned. Bloomberg says that Rockstar Games has relied on the loophole to sell titles from the Grand Theft Auto franchise in the country, for example. However, back in February, Apple began reminding developers that they would need to obtain licenses by...

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