Popular poker-inspired mobile game Balatro has had its Pan-European Game Information age rating reduced from 18 to 12, escalating the long-standing debate on gambling in video games.
One of the most popular mobile games in 2024, Balatro incorporates elements of poker into a card game where players aim to form winning combinations, enhanced by special features such as joker cards.
Following a successful appeal by the game’s publisher Sold Out Sales & Marketing, Europe’s gaming regulator brought down the title’s age rating after considering that “although the game explains the various hands of poker, the roguelike deck-building game contained mitigating fantastical elements”.
This change has been made despite the game’s use of purchasable ‘lucky dip’ style products, in which players can buy new outfits, power-ups or other bonuses without knowing what exact item they’re going to receive.
Lucky dips and loot boxes have been the cause of a long-standing debate in the video game industry, with critics considering these elements to be a form of gambling that can be integrated into games that are available to children.
For example, the FIFA series, now known as EA FC, has long incorporated loot box-style elements into its Ultimate Team offering, with players able to buy FIFA points’ and purchase packs where they can gain random players – whether good or bad.
FIFA and now EA FC titles have always been rated as available to anyone aged three or over, despite the use of these fifa packs.
This has caused some countries to take action on loot boxes and gambling elements implemented into video games, as Belgium banned loot boxes back in 2018, without impacting the age ratings given to these games.
LocalThunk, the developer behind Balatro, pointed to these loot box games as a reason for Balatro’s age rating being unfair, despite the game’s crossover with poker – a real gambling game.
Some have argued that Balatro has provided players with an education on poker and its often complicated rules, causing calls for stricter regulations that have been dismissed as a result of PEGI’s actions.
Balatro’s age rating reduction was also joined by a reduction for Luck Be A Landlord, a game that features a slot machine mechanic that was formerly rated 18, but has also been reduced to 12.
