LocalThunk’s excellent roguelike deckbuilder Balatro has been removed from various Switch eShops “without any advance warning” following an apparent age rating change from 3+ to 18+ by European ratings board PEGI.
Publisher Playstack issued a statement via Twitter saying the publisher is “especially disappointed in the actions of the ratings board” following post-appeal assurances in October 2023 that the game did not contain gambling themes after they had presumably been flagged in the certification process.
Here is the full text of the statement followed by the tweet itself:
To our amazing fans,
We are aware that Balatro has been temporarily removed from sale on a number of digital stores in some countries on console platforms, meaning that some new customers will be unable to buy it. Presently we cannot estimate with complete confidence which stores it will be removed from, but our hope is that only a minority of stores will be affected. We are highly confident that the game will remain available on PC stores, including Steam.
Anyone who has already purchased the game will still be able to play it.
Please rest assured we are working as hard as we can to get the game back on sale as soon as possible. This is not an issue with the stores themselves, however a reaction to an overnight change to Balatro’s age rating from 3+ to 18+ by a ratings board without any advance warning, due to a mistaken belief that the game “contains prominent gambling imagery and material that instructs about gambling”.
Balatro does not allow or encourage gambling – and we fundamentally believe the ratings decision is unfounded. Balatro was developed by someone who is staunchly anti-gambling, and painstaking care has been taken to ensure that the game does not feature gambling mechanics of any kind.
We are especially disappointed in the actions of the ratings board as we specifically addressed this topic with them in October, and were given a 3+ rating after it had initially been rated 18+. During that specific appeal, the ratings board assured us “we have reviewed your product and determined that the disclosure of gambling themes was unwarranted”. The game content has not changed since the age rating was amended to a 3+.
We continue to be floored by the response to Balatro, including NintendoLife’s latest review which has scored the game 10/10, and we are deeply sorry that some fans will not be able to access the game this weekend.
Please rest assured the game will be back up on sale, possibly with a temporary 18+ rating while we resolve the issue.
We thank you for your patience and support – we are utterly blown away by your passion and belief in Balatro.
Playstack
We at Nintendo Life published our review of the game just today, after which the absence of the game on European Switch eShops came to light.
The game is still available to purchase on the US Switch eShop, with an ESRB rating of 10+ and “Gambling Themes” noted.
You can read our review of the game below, although European Switch gamers will unfortunately have to wait a while to enjoy this game, it seems.
