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We update you on the most essential news from Asia in tech, media, and business—the things you need to know that you probably haven’t heard in Western media.
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Apple Removes Thousands of Apps with New Chinese App Store Policy 🍎
Starting July, Apple will begin removing thousands of mobile apps from the Chinese App Store. This is a new policy to require all paid games to have approval from Chinese regulators before getting listed. Prior to this decision, game developers were able to still submit their apps to the App store while their government approvals were still processing. This was used by everyone from indie developers to major companies like Rockstar Games, the creators of the Grand Theft Auto series, to be able to make money technically without government approval.
It’s expected that one third of all games on the Chinese App Store will be removed next month because of this policy. Anything that makes it harder for game developers to make money will have effects on the software community. And developing games for the huge Chinese market has always had additional challenges because of the government’s strict approval process, especially as the overall gaming industry continues to grow massively. In China, the mobile gaming industry last year reached a size close to $30 Billion.
China’s Sports Are Reopening 🏀
Last weekend, after five months of hiatus, the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) played their first set of games. While many things are back to normal, not every team’s roster has stayed the same. Some international players are actually stranded outside of China since the border is still currently closed to foreigners, and for the Beijing Ducks, their foreign head coach is stuck outside of China.
The next question many fans are asking is — what about other sports? The Chinese Super League, the country’s biggest football league, plans to restart some time next month in July. If you look to the rest of the world, it’s been quite a mixed bag — some European football leagues like the Premier League and Bundesliga have already resumed, without fans in stadiums. On the other end of the spectrum, the Belarus national football league has actually kept playing all of their matches over the last few months during the coronavirus crisis.
In motorsport, the Shanghai Grand Prix was supposed to happen in April but was cancelled. There is some talk that Formula One will be potentially rescheduling races in Asia for the second half of this year, and Shanghai is actually lobbying to host two races if the reopening happens. A Formula One Grand Prix generally brings a lot of press and economic benefits to the host city—one good example of this is the Grand Prix that has taken place in Baku, Azerbaijan since 2017. One PWC study calculated the city has received half a billion dollars in economic benefit because of the Grand Prix. So it’s a very attractive event for many cities, including Shanghai.
Steam’s Chinese Expansion Comes With Strings Attached 🎮
Steam is a digital distribution platform, one of the world’s biggest for selling video games. The platform has 95 Million active users and sells billions of dollars worth of games every year. Currently, 30 million users access the platform from China, where you can only use Steam by going through a VPN. The company has operated in this grey zone for a long time, until an official Steam partnership with local Chinese company Perfect World was announced in 2018.
Earlier this year, an early beta version of the new ‘Steam China’ has appeared to include censorship features, restricted times to play games, and fewer titles. Once again, issues of government regulation are a hugely important factor for anything related to gaming in China. The Chinese PC Gaming market was worth $15 Billion last year and there are a reported 321 Million PC gamers in China. By creating a new Steam China, Steam might be hoping to legitimise their huge business in China, but they might also end up annoying gamers and developers.
Update #14 - Apple, Sports, and Steam