Over 2,500 mobile games were removed from the App Store in China in the first week of July, according to Sensor Tower.

The removals follow the change in Apple's approach to the regulations, which forces all mobile games to have a license from the National Press and Publication Administration in China. It ensures that all apps meet the strict rules placed in the country.

On top of this, Apple has claimed that all games without an ISBN number will be removed from its storefront on August 1st. Previously, despite the strict rules imposed in China, the American firm continued to approve unlicensed games for the App Store.

Got the chop

In the first seven days of July, around 660 games were added to iOS. Meanwhile, the 2,500 removals is four times the amount of games that got the chop in that same time period for April and June, and five times the number in May.

However, of those delisted games, almost 2,000 had failed to reach 10,000 downloads in the past eight years. Furthermore, all the removed games combined had generated $34.7 million in lifetime revenue – a minuscule amount when you look at how lucrative China's market is.

Some recognisable titles are no longer available in China, such as Glu's Contract Killer Zombies 2 and ASMR Slicing from Crazy Labs, the latter of which was the most downloaded mobile game in May with 36.5 million installs.

Still top dog

Despite the strict regulations, China has proven to be the most lucrative market for the mobile games industry. Last year, it generated the most revenue of any country, making a total of $12.6 billion, or 33.2 per cent of the full amount of money earned through games on the App Store globally.

In second place, with $9 billion, or 23.7 per cent of total revenue, is the US. However, so far this year, China has continued its dominance as it accounts for 30 per cent – $6.7 billion – of worldwide earnings for the games category on Apple's storefront. Although, the US is just behind having generated $5.8 billion, or 26 per cent.