Breakout hit Balatro—a poker-themed roguelike deck builder—has run into some ratings trouble that’s led to the game being suddenly removed from the Nintendo eShop in many European countries. This removal has surprised both the developer and publisher, who now have to work to get the game back up on the shop for sale. Released last month on Xbox, PlayStation, Switch, and PC, Balatro is a wonderful and hard-to-put-down deck builder.
It uses poker mechanics and hands as the foundation for a strange, but fun roguelike all about earning massive combos using power-ups and special cards. Players earn chips as they win hands and progress, but these chips are only used as currency to buy upgrades and new cards. You don’t gamble with them at all. However, the card game theme as well as references to big and small blinds (a part of the betting process in poker) has seemingly led to an overnight rating change for Balatro and its removal from the Nintendo eShop in some region