Balatro Dev Claps Back at PEGI Over Weird Rating

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Summary

  • LocalThunk mocked Balatro‘s PEGI 18 rating, describing it as “comedy.”
  • The Canadian developer sarcastically pondered whether he should add real gambling mechanics to Balatro in order to get a lower rating, pointing to EA Sports FC 25 as an example of a PEGI 3-rated game with such features.
  • PEGI says Balatro’s unusually high rating is due to it teaching poker mechanics, which can be used for gambling.

As a seasoned gamer with over two decades of gaming experience under my belt, I can’t help but feel both amused and slightly irritated by the ongoing saga between LocalThunk and PEGI regarding Balatro’s PEGI 18 rating.

The creator of Balatro, LocalThunk, criticized the Pan-European Game Information system for its strict rating on his popular deck-building roguelike game, which was initially given a PEGI 18 classification.

A developer named LocalThunk, hailing from Canada, maintains anonymity but is quite visible on social media platforms. In fact, he had already garnered attention before his game Balatro became a global sensation in early 2024.

Once more reinforcing this pattern, on December 15th, LocalThunk expressed his disapproval of Balatro’s PEGI 18 rating via a tweet. In a playful manner, he questioned if he should incorporate genuine gambling elements such as loot boxes to secure a less stringent rating, using EA Sports FC 25 as an illustrative example of a game with such features that received the minimum PEGI rating. LocalThunk humorously labeled this anomaly where EA’s latest football sim earned the lowest PEGI rating while Balatro got the highest one as “funny” in summary.

PEGI Cites Balatro’s Poker Theme as Reason for High Rating

The PEGI database indicates that the game Balatro carries a high age rating due to its depiction of prominent gambling symbols, which instruct players on how to play real-life poker. However, it is worth noting that the creator of Balatro, LocalThunk, has publicly stated in a February 2024 interview with PC Gamer that he does not play poker himself. In fact, half a year later, the developer expressed his strong dislike for Balatro being associated with gambling to such an extent that he included a clause in his will prohibiting the sale or licensing of the game’s intellectual property to any gambling-related entities. Consequently, while there may be some resemblance between the rules of Balatro and poker, it is important to understand that this does not constitute an endorsement of the actual game of poker.

Balatro Has a Much Lower ESRB Rating

Balatro differs from traditional poker games since it doesn’t involve players placing bets during gameplay. This is why the ESRB rated it as appropriate for kids aged 10 and older, while even Germany’s USK, known for being more stringent with ratings than PEGI, classifies it as suitable for children age 12 and above.

In a recent tweet, LocalThunk didn’t express something new about PEGI’s treatment of his game, Balatro. During a Reddit AMA in March 2024, he already called out PEGI’s rating as “unwarranted” and disappointing. Despite this restrictive age rating, Balatro went on to achieve massive success, selling over 3.5 million copies by mid-December 2024. The game also made a strong impression at The Game Awards 2024, where it tied with Metaphor: ReFantazio for the second-highest number of accolades won.

Sources: PC Gamer, LocalThunk / Twitter, ESRB, USK, LocalThunk / Reddit

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2024-12-16 21:14