Balatro, the poker-themed rogue-like from solo developer LocalThunk that’s been a huge critical and commercial hit following its release last week, has been unexpectedly yanked from sale in some countries, with publisher Playstack blaming the issue on a surprise ratings change.
Playstack addressed the issue in a lengthy statement shared on social media, explaining Balatro’s temporary removal from console platform stores had so far only happened “some countries”. It admitted, however, that it could not “estimate with complete confidence which stores”, adding, “Our hope is that only a minority of stores will be affected”. It remains “highly confident” Balatro will remain available on PC stores.
The cause of all this frustration is an unexpected “overnight change” to Balatro’s age rating, which has been bumped from 3+ to 18+. According to Playstack, this change stems from the ratings board’s “mistaken belief that the game ‘contains prominent gambling imagery and materials that instructs about gambling'”.
