{"id":774592,"date":"2025-11-30T08:08:58","date_gmt":"2025-11-30T08:08:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/balatro-creator-speaks-out-on-gambling-rating-dramautm_source=feed&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=feed"},"modified":"2025-11-30T08:08:58","modified_gmt":"2025-11-30T08:08:58","slug":"balatro-creator-speaks-out-on-gambling-rating-drama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/balatro-creator-speaks-out-on-gambling-rating-drama\/","title":{"rendered":"Balatro creator speaks out on gambling rating drama"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/balatro-creator-speaks-out-on-gambling-rating-drama.jpg\" \/> <\/p>\n<p>\nThe creator of poker-themed rogue-like Balatro has spoken out about the game&#8217;s rating drama, stating &#8220;it is what it is&#8221;.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nIn an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/Games\/comments\/1bdtmlg\/ama_i_am_localthunk_developer_and_artist_for\/\">AMA session on reddit<\/a>, developer and artist localthunk was asked for comment on how PEGI mishandled the game&#8217;s rating after it was pulled from sale in some countries due to a &#8220;mistaken belief that the game &#8216;contains prominent gambling imagery and materials that instructs about gambling'&#8221;, as per publisher <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/rogue-like-poker-hit-balatro-pulled-from-sale-in-some-countries-due-to-unexpected-ratings-change\">Playstack&#8217;s statement at the time<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p> &#8220;I still believe that the rating is unwarranted, but there is some grey area for interpretation from PEGI and at this point it is what it is,&#8221; said localthunk. &#8220;I think the one thing I am most disappointed by is the fact that other games with actual gambling mechanics aren&#8217;t rated the same way because of their appearance\/theme.&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/balatro-creator-speaks-out-on-gambling-rating-dramautm_source=feed&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=feed\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/balatro-creator-speaks-out-on-gambling-rating-dramautm_source=feed&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=feed\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The creator of poker-themed rogue-like Balatro has spoken out about the game&#8217;s rating drama, stating &#8220;it is what it is&#8221;. In an AMA session on reddit, developer and artist localthunk was asked for comment on how PEGI mishandled the game&#8217;s rating after it was pulled from sale in some countries due to a &#8220;mistaken belief that the game &#8216;contains prominent gambling imagery and materials that instructs about gambling&#8217;&#8221;, as per publisher Playstack&#8217;s statement at the time. &#8220;I still believe that the rating is unwarranted, but there is some grey area for interpretation from PEGI and at this point it is what it is,&#8221; said localthunk. &#8220;I think the one thing I am most disappointed by is the fact that other games with actual gambling mechanics&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"excerpt-more\"><a class=\"blog-excerpt button\" href=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/balatro-creator-speaks-out-on-gambling-rating-drama\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":774593,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[230],"tags":[10483,1327,75,59],"class_list":["post-774592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eurogamer","tag-balatro","tag-card-games","tag-indie","tag-pc"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Balatro creator speaks out on gambling rating drama | Arcader News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The creator of poker-themed rogue-like Balatro has spoken out about the game&#039;s rating drama, stating &quot;it is what it is&quot;. 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