Balatro Reclassified to PEGI 12 After Publisher's Appeal

Frequent readers (and why wouldn't you be?) may recall one of the more oddball stories from last year about Balatro, the roguelike deckbuilder, which was initially classified as PEGI 18 by rating boards. This classification placed it on the same level as games like Grand Theft Auto, which naturally baffled many people, including the developer.

However, it appears that PEGI has recognized their mistake and reclassified Balatro, now designating it as the more appropriate PEGI 12 rating. According to developer Localthunk, who announced the news on Twitter, this change came about in part due to an appeal by Balatro's publisher to the ratings board.

This isn't the first time Balatro has faced scrutiny from external organizations. It was also briefly removed from the Nintendo eShop due to concerns over perceived gambling content. This is despite the fact that players cannot win real money or place bets, and the only use of cash in the game is as an abstract means to purchase more cards during each run.

As mentioned above, one of the key reasons for Balatro's initial PEGI 18 classification was its depiction of gambling-adjacent imagery. Essentially, the concern was that someone might learn about concepts like a straight flush or a flush from the game.

This classification issue has also affected Balatro's presence on mobile platforms, despite the widespread presence of in-app transactions in many games on these platforms. While a late correction is better than none, it's frustrating that the initial misclassification occurred in the first place.

If this news is finally persuading you to give Balatro a try, why not check out our tier list of Jokers to find out which of these game-changing cards are worth using and which ones you might want to skip?