Apple claims its revenue last year was severely hurt due to China’s ban on new video games in 2018.
Apple saw revenue dip around $4.8b (A shade under £34.3b) in Greater China during the last quarter of 2018, and Apple has claimed that it’s been hit hard by both the country’s economic slowdown but also by the video game
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During a recent Apple earnings call Apple’s financial chief Luca Maestri said: “The App Store in China is a large business for us. We believe the issue around approval of new game titles is temporary in nature but clearly it’s affecting our business right now.”
The video game ban has hit the entertainment business hard. In March 2018, the country seemingly stopped allowing new games to be approved for sale in the country, before the ban became official policy in August, a few days after China’s president Xi Jinping gave a speech talking about curbing video games.
While it seems that the flow of new games has opened up again in 2019, approvals are slow and it’s not entirely certain what the criteria is for getting a game okayed in China, and while there were some 80 releases approved in the last few days of December, the stream of new games is more like a trickle at this point.
It’s not Apple’s only problem. Sales of the 2018 iPhones are in a slump, as the company are struggling to get people excited about their newest funslab while several other smartphone companies are making significant inroads to the mobile audience.
Couple this with their games being even harder to get to, and it could end up as a real headache for the tech outfit.#
Live in China? Struggling with access to iOS games? We’re on Twitter to sooth your aching heart at @TrustedReviews
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
