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Balatro developer, LocalThunk, successfully convinces PEGI to change the game’s age rating from 18 to 12.
Pan European Game Information (PEGI), an official European video game content rating system, announced in a press release that it would amend ratings assigned to the hit indie game on February 24, 2025.
Balatro is a popular deck-building roguelike that exceeded one million sales last March. It’s a title that centers around hands in poker, and as a result PEGI initially issued an 18+ rating over concerns that the game was promoting gambling themes.
The game was initially classified as 3+ before it was quickly changed due to what PEGI described as “prominent gambling imagery” in March 2024, a month after its explosive release. As a result, Balatro was removed from sale in various countries, and the game’s publisher has been fighting in an appeal to reassess its rating ever since.
The press release reads: “The PEGI 18 rating for the game ‘Balatro’ has been changed to a PEGI 12 following a successful appeal submitted by publisher Sold Out Sales & Marketing.
“The Complaints Board concluded that, although the game explains the various hands of poker, the roguelike deck-building game contained mitigating fantastical elements that warranted a PEGI 12 rating.”
PEGI also amended the age rating for Luck Be A Landlord, a similar roguelike deck builder that also appealed for its age rating to be reduced to 12 by publisher Fangamer.
PEGI to revise criteria following rating changes
LocalThunk shared thoughts on the decision on X, saying it was “a good step from PEGI” while coyly remarking how hard copies of Balatro with 18 ratings could be considered “limited edition”.
After an appeal from my publisher, Balatro has been reclassified by PEGI from 18+ to 12+
This is a good step from PEGI – bringing nuance to their ratings criteria that used to be 18+ or nothing. I hope this change will allow developers to create without being unfairly punished
— localthunk (@LocalThunk) February 24, 2025
In light of the two rating changes, PEGI announced that it would revisit its terms to bring more robust criteria for classifying gambling themes in games.
In the press release, PEGI added: “At this moment, any teaching or glamorization of simulated gambling automatically leads to a PEGI 18 rating.
“On the basis of these appeals, the PEGI Experts Group will develop a more granular set of classification criteria to handle gambling themes and the simulation, teaching, and glamorization of gambling in different age categories, which will now include 12 but also keep 18 as an age category for games that simulate gambling typically played in casinos and betting halls.”
In other news: EA executive says Japan’s ratings board was unfairly hard on Dead Space remake.
