PEGI digs its heels in over Balatro's 18+ rating, according to its disappointed dev: 'blaming EU laws, blaming storefronts, waiting for the future'

GamesRoguelikeBalatroPEGI digs its heels in over Balatro’s 18+ rating, according to its disappointed dev: ‘blaming EU laws, blaming storefronts, waiting for the future’When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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(Image credit: LocalThunk)

The jester from Balatro, portrayed in unsettling detail in real life, wears an uncanny smile and stares at the viewer.

Unfortunately, the organisation is still adamant that its choices are in accordance with its guidelines, as LocalThunkwrites on Bluesky: “[I] talked with PEGI and they do not see anything wrong Balatro being rated 18+, nor with EA sports FC (and similar games) having a 3+ rating.” He goes on to say that the ratings board was “blaming EU laws, blaming storefronts, waiting for the future. Sitting on their hands. I thought some good might come of this, this sucks.“For context: PEGI’s attitude towards gambling, which you can seelaid out on its website, is based on whether a game has allusions to (or could conceivably teach people how to play) games that are used to gamble in the real world: “These simulations of gambling refer to games of chance that are normally carried out in casinos or gambling halls.”

In other words, PEGI’s decision here is technically consistent with its stated guidelines, even if those guidelines are, on the face of it, quite silly. Balatro teaches you how to form certain poker hands, and poker is a game of chance that’s “normally carried out in casinos or gambling halls”. Meanwhile, EA Sports FC 25, a game that lets you buy card packs with real money, does not teach you how to play a game of chance that you could find out in the real world.

This,according to a statementgiven to Game Informer at the time, was a “conscious decision not to apply the change retroactively … We wanted to avoid that the exact same game can be found in a shop for two different consoles with two different age ratings.”

I’ve gone ahead and contacted PEGI directly for its opinions on Localthunk’s statement that it was “blaming” EU laws and storefronts, and I’ll update this article if I receive a response. Personally, I think Balatro’s 18+ rating is very silly—and the age rating of games like EA Sports FC is archaic, and potentially irresponsible because assome studies claim, these games can press the same neurological buttons in problem gamblers that real-world casinos do.

However, Idothink PEGI has a more complicated task balancing the laws and regulations of 35 countries in its age ratings, especially when compared to something like the ESRB, which handles three (the US, Canada, and Mexico). That’s not to wipe it of all responsibility, but I wouldn’t be shocked if there was some degree of wider politics that led to this baffling state of affairs, especially given some EU countries haveflip-flopped on the subject of loot boxes being rated 18+in recent years. The law, as it tends to do, moves slowly and clumsily to catch up with the modern day.

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