Balatrois a roguelike poker game that tasks players with earning as much money as possible through betting on hands of poker that can become chaotic through the use of joker cards. The game features no gambling in the traditional sense, which makes the delisting a little puzzling. Thankfully, the game wasn’t held back onSteam, allowing players to still buy and download the title.
Nintendo Switch is home to thousands of games and has a robust indie selection.
We calledBalatro“achaotic hand of poker” and highlighted the roguelike elements of playing with wild cards that can boost your run. While you do play chips to bet on your hand and your hand-building skills, you aren’t gambling against other players, nor are you putting money down against a blind outcome. However, as poker is the core ofBalatro, it’s easy to see how some storefronts deemed it a concern for younger players.
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Publisher PlayStack has argued the point and remains adamant that the age rating change is unfounded. The change came as the game’s rating was lifted from 3+ to 18+ and this caused safeguarding effects to come into play. It seems the biggest issue is withNintendo Switch, as the game still appears on thePlayStationstorefront and Microsoft’s Xbox store.
Commenting directly, PlayStack said, “Following further analysis, we can now confirm that changes toBalatro’s age rating have affected only one platform in limited regions,” which was later confirmed to be the Switch eShop. They expect the game to be reinstated and back in the store soon.
Topics:Nintendo Switch,PC,PlayStation,Steam,Xbox,Indie Games
