Balatro, despite being one of the most popular and successful games of 2024, has been re-classified by PEGI (Pan European Game Information). The deck-building card game previously had an age rating of 18 years old (PEGI 18), which was then changed to 12 years old (PEGI 12) recently after some considerations– and after they realized that the game doesn’t really have any gambling in it.
The report itself came from the official PEGI website where the PEGI Complaints Board has announced the amendment for Balatro‘s age-rating classification. The Complaints Board actually amended another game, called Luck Be A Landlord along with Balatro, which likewise had a mechanic that PEGI mistook for gambling mini-games.
The significant development for Balatro and Luck Be A Landlord could very well open up both games for younger audiences and thus, more sales now that parents are less worried about their children falling into a gambling addiction.
As for what warranted Balatro‘s initial PEGI 18 rating, PEGI itself cited that the game incorporates various hands of poker as one of the reasons for the classification. However, Balatro is primarily a roguelike deck-building game. Meanwhile, Luck Be a Landlord had slot machines though they didn’t foster gambling and didn’t exactly ask players to wager real money.
Could This Lead to a Fairer Classification for Games?
The more important part of the discourse is how PEGI’s revisions for Balatro and Luck Be A Landlord could lead to a clearer or even stricter classification of what constitutes gambling in video games. PEGI Experts Group has thus set a plan to develop “a more granular set of classification criteria to handle gambling themes and the simulation, teaching, and glamorisation of gambling” in video games.
It’s somewhat of a hopeful way for the gaming industry to deal with rampant loot boxes and overt gambling mechanics. However, take note that this is limited to Europe since the US has a different age-rating classification, which is the ESRB (Entertainment Software Rating Board).
As it is, however, certain games are rather aggressive in their gambling-inspired monetization structures, particularly gacha titles and those that incorporate loot boxes. Genshin Impact and similar titles, for example, have a PEGI 12 rating or Teen (for ESRB), though debates are still ongoing regarding its gambling mechanics, especially in obtaining rare characters.
Consequently, gacha games have proven to be highly lucrative, often generating billions of dollars in revenue each year. Genshin‘s earnings presumably mostly come from its gacha system which is more or less a virtual lottery machine that has proven to be harmful at least financially.
