Balatro Game Rating Downgraded And Cooperated With Many Games
Balatro has had good news recently. The game rating that has disgusted them for a long time has finally been adjusted recently.
Game Rating Adjustment
The game rating agency Pan-European Game Information Organization (PEGI) recently revoked the 18+ rating of the independent card game Balatro and changed it to 12+.
PEGI official website released a statement saying: “The appeal filed by the publisher Sold Out Sales and Marketing was successful, and Balatro’s PEGI 18+ rating has been changed to PEGI 12+. The Complaints Committee believes that although the game explains various poker hand types, this Roguelike deck building game contains fantasy elements that mitigate the impact and should be rated PEGI 12+.”
At the same time, PEGI also announced that the rating of Luck Be a Landlord, the slot machine Roguelike game that inspired Balatro, was also downgraded from PEGI 18+ to PEGI 12+, for basically the same reason: “Although the game contains slot machine mechanics, there are no specific transferable gambling skills, so the game can be rated PEGI 12+”
Previously, Balatro received a PEGI 18+ rating because it was considered being related to gambling. PEGI believes that games “teach the skills and knowledge used in poker through images, information and gameplay... These knowledge and skills can be transferred to real-life poker games.”
However, developer LocalThunk questioned PEGI 3+ rating of EA Sports FC 25, which contains microtransactions for “random card packs and other game items” and game characters need to be randomly drawn, which is also equivalent to a kind of gambling. FC 25 is only rated PEGI 3+, which is obviously quite unfair to Balatro.
LocalThunk said at the time: “If other games are correctly rated, I will gladly accept this weird 18+. The red logo looks kind of cool.”
LocalThunk also took a similar attitude in the re-rating, and PEGI said that “a more detailed set of classification standards will be developed to deal with gambling themes for different age groups and the simulation, teaching and glorification of gambling.”
Cooperated With Many Games
As if to celebrate the adjustment of the game rating, Balatro released a new Friends of Jimbo card pack, and the breadth and scope of its linkage are amazing. This game seems to be becoming “Fortnite” of the independent game industry.
The design of the new cards is inspired by well-known works such as Civilization, Assassin’s Creed, Fallout, Critical Role, Dead by Daylight, Goodbye Princess, Bugsnax and Rust.
As a player commented under YouTube announcement video, the developer “LocalThunk simply said ‘yes’ to everyone’s emails, which made me laugh to death. ”
That may be true. The Friends of Jimbo update was also shared by Goodbye Princess developer Black Tabby Games, with the message “probably the most unhinged professional email I’ve ever sent.” LocalThunk’s response was simple and clear: “OK”.
Bugsnax developer Young Horses also shared some sketches of the collaboration, and to celebrate the collaboration, the game itself is also discounted by -60% until March 3.
This is the fourth update in the Friends of Jimbo series, and the lineup of games that have been linked together shows that many developers are playing and loving Balatro and are actively seeking collaborations with the game.
Balatro will also usher in a more important update later this year, and although LocalThunk said he will “keep it secret in case there are problems with the new content”, players can expect to see a series of new cards.
