Balatro has been targeted once again on account of it being kind of related to gambling. YouTube has started putting age restrictions on Balatro videos, according to one creator, and the game’s sole developer, LocalThunk, has fired back at the Google-owned platform.
This isn’t the first time something like this has happened. In February, LocalThunk was successful in an appeal to PEGI to get Balatro’s age rating reduced from 18 to 12.
Dejá vu
On social media, LocalThunk clapped back at YouTube for putting age restrictions on Balatro content:
Apparently Balatro videos are being rated 18+ on YouTube now for gambling
Good thing we are protecting children from knowing what a 4 of a kind is and letting them watch CS case opening videos instead
The comments came after this video was posted online by ‘Balatro University’:
In a recent change to the site’s terms of service, YouTube tweaked the rules for creators, stressing that ‘depications or promotions of online casino sites of apps’ are now subject to age restrictions.
Balatro is based entirely around building decks of cards and earning chips to defeat your opponents, but the act of chasing down poker hands is as close as it gets to gambling. It’s a connection, but a minute one that even PEGI was able to overlook.
It seems as though LocalThunk will need to go back on the warpath, this time against Google and YouTube, to potentially rectify this issue. It’s possible that some kind of AI-driven solution was employed to scan the platform and put an age restriction on content that matched a certain model, hence, Balatro got caught by the algorithm.
Have you played Balatro yet? Let me know what you think about the game in the comments.
For more Insider Gaming coverage, check out the news that the Oblivion remake has a new rumoured release window
Grant has been gaming for 30+ years and in the industry for 10+. You'll probably find him playing a post-apocalyptic game or an extraction shooter somewhere.
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