Indie Hit Balatro Removed from Console Stores in PEGI Age Rating Dispute
On a different planet card.
You may have heard about Balatro recently — it's the latest indie sensation currently doing the rounds, and it's truly excellent. The roguelike deckbuilder has you playing poker hands to score points, and using joker cards and other upgrades to amplify those points to potentially stratospheric levels — it's tremendous. However, that basic poker element at its very core appears to be causing some unforeseen problems.
PEGI, Europe's video game ratings board, has suddenly changed Balatro's classification with no prior warning to publisher Playstack. Awarded a 3+ rating for release, it has now been changed to an 18+ on the basis of "prominent gambling imagery". You can see the difference on the PS Store listings; in the UK it shows this updated rating, while in the US, the ESRB rates it Everyone 10+, with a qualifier about "gambling themes".
Read the full article on pushsquare.com