If you’ve ever played Balatro on mobile, as basically every gamer seems to have, you might find its PEGI 18 rating surprising. While the game incorporates gambling elements, primarily through poker, it doesn’t involve real or virtual currency wagering in the traditional sense.
Balatro 18 Rating
Last year, the indie titan Balatro was surprisingly hit with a sudden removal from storefronts for containing gambling content but this was very quickly reverted. The publisher for Balatro Playstack confirmed that had only impacted the card game on “one platform in limited regions” but the game retained its PEGI 18 rating.
PEGI Rescinds 18 Age Rating
After more than a year, Balatro’s PEGI 18 rating has been changed, and it now carries a 12 rating. At this point, I don’t think it will impact the sales of the game as pretty much everyone seems to have played the game despite its rating.
PEGI to explain this change has said that
“The PEGI 18 rating for the game ‘Balatro’ has been changed to a PEGI 12 following a successful appeal submitted by publisher Sold Out Sales & Marketing,” and that “The Complaints Board concluded that, although the game explains the various hands of poker, the roguelike deck-building game contained mitigating fantastical elements that warranted a PEGI 12 rating.”
They also went on to say that any game that contains elements that encourage or teach gambling will net it an 18 rating. From now on PEGI with take a closer look at games that only have themes close to gambling instead.
Where to buy Balatro
If you somehow haven’t already played Balatro now is the perfect time to try it out with the game just yesterday being shadow-dropped onto PC games pass. You can also find the game everywhere else from Steam, Epic, Google and Apple Play Store.
