Under Chinese law, game developers must be licensed to sell games in the App Store and in other app marketplaces. However, while regulators stopped issuing new licenses in late 2021, the ban on new licenses is set to continue into 2022.

The National press and Publication Administration (NPPA), which issues licenses for games in China, is continuing to abstain from publishing lists of new approved games. Following on from a suspension that started at the end of July, the South China Morning Post reports it has now become the longest suspension of new game licenses since a nine-month blackout in 2018.

Regulators decided to suspend game license approvals in July as approvals for new games were considered "a bit too aggressive" in the first half of 2021, reports indicated.

At the time it wasn't advised how long the hiatus would last, except that one unnamed source said it would be for "a while." The lack of a license means a game cannot be submitted to the regional App Store, nor can it be updated.

Apple has been suspending updates and pulling games from the China App Store that didn't have a license from the NPPA since July 2020, to comply with local laws. The report speculates that the freeze "may be connected to a government crackdown on gaming addiction."