Balatro Secures Official Enchantment, Redefining Poker Game’s Age Rating to PEGI 12
“Based on this appeal, the PEGI Experts Group will formulate a more detailed set of classification guidelines.”
Balatro, the poker-inspired roguelite, has successfully contested PEGI’s decision to categorize it as PEGI 18 and has now been reclassified as suitable for players aged 12 and above.
About a year ago, developer Localthunk addressed PEGI’s perceived mismanagement of the game’s classification after it was removed from sale in several countries due to a “misunderstanding that the game ‘contains significant gambling imagery and materials that instruct about gambling'”, remarking “it is what it is”.
“The PEGI 18 rating for Balatro has been revised to a PEGI 12 following a successful appeal put forth by publisher Sold Out Sales & Marketing,” the Pan European Game Information (PEGI) organization announced on its website earlier today.
“The Complaints Board determined that, while the game details various hands of poker, the roguelike deck-building game included mitigating fantastical elements that justified a PEGI 12 rating.”
In a similar fashion, Success Be A Landlord has also been reclassified to PEGI 12.
“Currently, any instruction or glorification of simulated gambling automatically results in a PEGI 18 rating,” stated the ratings board.
“Following these appeals, the PEGI Experts Group will create a more refined set of classification guidelines to address gambling-related themes and the simulation, education, and glorification of gambling across different age ranges, which will now include 12 while still maintaining 18 for games that emulate gambling typically found in casinos and betting establishments.”
Balatro has just recently surpassed 5 million copies sold. That’s more than double the sales since last August.