A research note from Marbridge Consulting suggests that Chinese mobile operator China Mobile is placing restrictions on the number of games that can be offered on its Baibaoxiang portal from September 1st.

The new restrictions, which have apparently been delayed by a month from their original implementation date of today, will limit 'A-level' providers to 40 games.

Meanwhile, B-level providers will be capped at 30 games, C-level at 20, ordinary providers will only be able to offer six games, and any providers with "insufficient credit ratings" will get a measly two slots.

Those limits are all roughly a third of their current levels (e.g. 130 games for A-level providers), while those with poor credit ratings have been slashed from 30.

There's no news on why China Mobile is making the cuts, but Marbridge suggests that early next year, the operator may move all the Baibaoxiang games into a unified mobile games channel.