The roguelike deck builder Balatro has encountered problems related to its poker-inspired gameplay and imagery, according to a message posted on Twitter today by Balatro's publisher, Playstack, who said that since the game's launch in February, the global The age rating has changed in some regions and as a result, the console version of the game has been removed from some online stores:

"We are aware that Balatro has been temporarily removed from digital stores for console platforms in some countries. We cannot predict with complete certainty which stores it will be removed from at this time, but we hope that only a minority of stores will be affected."

The stores mentioned appear to be several Nintendo Switch stores in European countries and Australia. PC users, however, do not seem to need to worry. Playstack states, "We are confident that the game will continue to be available on PC stores, including Steam."

According to Playstack, this is all because "the rating board changed Balatro's age rating from 3+ to 18+ overnight without prior warning due to a misunderstanding that the game contained prominent gambling imagery and instructions about gambling

"Balatro neither permits nor encourages gambling and fundamentally believes that the rating decision is unfounded," Playstack states.

"Balatro was developed by someone who is adamantly opposed to gambling, and great care has been taken to ensure that the games do not feature gambling mechanics of any kind.

LocalThunk, the developer of Balatro, told me as much when we spoke in January. 'I am against gambling. 'There is no actual gambling theme in this game. Another source of inspiration for Balatro is a roguelike like Luck Be A Landlord, where you don't fight monsters, you don't play against someone and you don't play against them, you just try to get a high score. Local Thunk is no poker fan. I don't play poker at all," he said.

Today, LocalThunk responded to this situation on Twitter: "I do not condone gambling (betting anything of personal value on an uncertain event), nor do I believe that Balatro involves gambling. I have added a risk/reward mechanism and an RNG to Balatro, and these are the core mechanisms of the entire genre."

Playstack does not name any specific rating boards or stores, but the UK Nintendo Switch store no longer shows Balatro for sale, and the link to the previous store page is 404. In the US, Nintendo's Switch store still sells Balatro with a 10+ rating.

A quick look at other stores shows recent changes in Balatro's age rating. In the UK PlayStation and Xbox stores, Balatro is now rated "PEGI 18" and cites "prominent gambling imagery." However, this is a recent change; according to a web archive search, in the UK Xbox store, Balatro was rated "PEGI 3" just three days ago, on February 27. In the U.S. Xbox store, Balatro is currently rated "Everyone 10+" and is noted to contain "gambling themes."

On February 18, it was simply rated "Everyone" with no warning about gambling.

Hope is that this is a temporary situation: in a statement to Game Informer, a Playstack representative said, "At this time, the sudden rating change from 3+ to 18+ has triggered a legitimate automatic safeguard system for digital stores, resulting in a European-wide most Nintendo Switch stores in the United States and temporarily affected in Australia and New Zealand."

stating.

On the one hand, one can see why someone on the ratings board, let alone a parent, would be a bit wary of a game based on poker being rated as kid-friendly. However, one only needs to play a few minutes of Baratro to know that it is not really poker. LocalThunk told me in January that "we knew that poker would be a really good thematic tie-in that many people could use as a starting point to understand some of the game's mechanics."

Most importantly, there is no gambling in Baratro. There is beating the boss, but that is simply scoring more than that boss's limit. No one else makes poker hands. Baratro is like solitaire with magic. The only "gamble" is to buy a Wheel of Fortune card, and then take a one-in-four chance of making one of the jokers special.

According to Playstack, the publisher has gone through this age rating procedure once before. Balatro was originally given a rating of 18+, but the rating was revised to 3+ after an objection from the publisher. In that specific appeal, the rating board affirmed that it had 'reviewed your product and determined that the disclosure of gambling themes was unwarranted. The game's content has not changed since the rating was revised to 3+.'

We will monitor the situation and let you know if there are further developments; according to Playstack, those who purchased the game from the removed store can still play it.

"Rest assured that the game may be temporarily reopened for sale with an 18+ rating while we resolve the issue.

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