LocalThunk’s excellent roguelike deckbuilder Balatro has been removed from various Switch eShops “without any prior warning” following an apparent age rating change from 3+ to 18+ by European rating board PEGI.
Publisher Playstack released a statement via Twitter saying the publisher was “particularly disappointed with the actions of the ratings board” after being assured following an appeal in October 2023 that the game did not contain gambling themes after they were likely 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 in a number of digital stores in some countries on console platforms, meaning that some new customers will not be able to purchase it. At this time, we cannot estimate with complete confidence which stores will be removed from, but we hope that this will only affect a small number of stores. We are very 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.
Rest assured that we are working as hard as we can to get the game back on sale as soon as possible. This isn’t a problem with the stores themselves, but a reaction to the ratings board changing Balatro’s age rating from 3+ to 18+ overnight without any prior warning, due to the mistaken belief that the game “contains prominent gambling imagery and educational material about gambling”.
Balatro does not allow or encourage gambling – and we fundamentally believe that the ratings decision is unfounded. Balatro was developed by someone who is a staunch opponent of gambling, and painstaking care has been taken to ensure that the game does not contain gambling mechanics of any kind.
We are particularly disappointed with the actions of the rating board as we spoke to them specifically about this topic in October and were given a 3+ rating after it was originally rated 18+. During that particular appeal, the review board assured us that “we have reviewed your product and determined that the disclosure of gambling themes was unjustified.” Game content has not changed since the age rating was changed to 3+.
We continue to be overwhelmed by the response to Balatro, including NintendoLife’s latest review which rated the game 10/10, and deeply regret that some fans will not be able to access the game this weekend.
Rest assured that the game will be on sale again, perhaps with a temporary 18+ rating until we fix the issue.
We thank you for your patience and support – we are completely overwhelmed by your passion and faith in Balatro.
Playstack
We at Nintendo Life just published a review of the game today, after which it was revealed that the game is not available on the European Switch eShops.
The game is still available for purchase US Switch eShopwith an ESRB rating of 10+ and labeled “Gambling Themes”.
You can read our review of the game below, though European Switch players will unfortunately have to wait a while to enjoy this game, it seems.
