PEGI Won't Budge on Balatro's Ridiculously Bloated European Age Rating

@Daleaf Yeah it took Battle Front 2 doing real scummy loot boxes , before the UK goverment got involved, shows how out of touch Euro ratings are.

It's almost as if a very wealthy company like EA has found a way to persuade PEGI to keep its age rating low.....wonder what it could be 😂

Guess he better suck it up then.

PEGI has been the most ineffective organisation I can remember and has been for many decades - I remember being in their offices a long time ago and they were rubbish then. They were smaller of course, but just as rubbish.

Edit: It was actually ELSPA whos offices I remember being in and having meetings - PEGI came later. I still have the same opinion of PEGI though, and these decisions demonstrate why

"The rating board appears to be quite inconsistent when it comes to how gambling affects an age rating. While some gambling games do have the 18 rating, others don't; Prominence Poker, Texas Holdem Poker: Pokerist, Pure Hold'em World Poker Championship, and The Four Kings Casino and Slots each have a PEGI age rating of 12. "

This is the really infuriating part. Stupid rules are frustrating, but inconsistency in how you apply those rules is inarguably unfair.

PEGI are an absolute joke, how can simulated gambling be enough to warrant an 18 rating but literal gambling and predatory microtransactions aren't?

All I can say to this:

common sense is a marbelous thing!

If you have a kid who is interested in this I'd say go for it.

There is far more to be gained in comfort with numbers, logical thinking, puzzle solving and general fun than there is risk of them turning into a card shark!

I mean... I kind of see it from both sides, and as a Poker player (IRL) I can see how Balatro could be seen as somewhat of a 'gateway drug' into the real world of poker playing and gambling. HOWEVER - I absolutely believe that ratings need to be reviewed for other games, example in case FIFA series, where real loot box mechanics exist.

The 18 cert probably hasn't harmed Balatro sales though, with the notoriety and additional publicity likely facilitating some great exposure.

On a side-note... I am curious to how many Balatro players/owners are actually under the age of 18? I wasn't sure if this game would be able to permeate the sub-18 crowd, who I'd imagine are more bound by live-service/annual release titles like Fortnite, COD, FIFA etc??

Any games with microtransactions should be 18+

I dont know this game too well at all, but from what I read in the article, maybe a slightly more common sense approach is needed as relates to this game.

PEGI gave Astro-Bot a 7, meaning anyone the age of 7 or above can play it, and that game has a literal Casino level with slot machines in it that the player can use. By PEGI's own logic, wouldn't that mean that children could "transfer that skill" from the in-game slot machines to real life ones?

@Rich33 There are no microtransactions in the game. You can’t spend extra money on it even if you wanted to. The DLC card packs (with cosmetically themed cards added as options later just for fun, based on game like The Witcher, Dave the Diver, Among Us, etc) are free.

There is “in game currency” to buy card packs that are part of the gameplay loop, similar to buying upgrades in literally any other game out there. The currency is effectively XP to be spent on the store to strengthen your run. The currency could easily be called “XP” or “Souls” or “Blood Echoes” or “Gil” or any other of the thousands of similar in-game currency that exist in every RPG.

There is zero gambling or betting in this game. It's a deck builder with a poker mechanic.

The logic here of the PEGI board is puzzling. “Transfer to a real-life game of Poker”… well, I get it but at the same time I just don’t think Poker is the scourge we should be worried about. Like others have mentioned, the same logic doesn’t apply to other casino games and betting mini-games that are often included in a video game. The veiled gambling components of other games (like gacha mechanics) are more likely to get kids accustomed to a gambling addiction, I would suspect.

Furthermore, for those who have played Balatro and who also play real-world poker know that the similarities of the two end at the perceived value of the different hands (pair, two pair, full house, flush, etc.). In fact, reliance on one’s experience with poker will get you beat a lot in Balatro. You have to unlearn some of your poker tendencies to be successful.

Other than that common terminology of the hands (and other terms like “ante”, “blind”, “joker”, etc), playing Balatro is nothing like pulling up to a Poker table in real life.