Image: LocalThunk
Balatro is officially on Xbox Game Pass with a new update.
The hit indie game Balatro has officially released a new update featuring crossovers with Assassin's Creed Shadows, Critical Role, Fallout, and more. The game has also gotten a surprise launch on Xbox Game Pass, allowing all subscribers to get sucked into its addictive poker-like gameplay. With this, and news that PEGI has finally overturned its ruling on the game's gambling-like mechanics, Balatro is having a pretty great week.
Balatro announces crossover-laden update, launches on Xbox Game Pass
Publisher Playstack and LocalThunk have announced a fourth Friends of Jimbo 4 update for Balatro, adding even more crossover cards to the already-beloved card game. These face card customisations include Spades cards taken from Assassin’s Creed Shadows and Slay the Princess, Hearts cards from Critical Role and Bugsnax, Clubs cards from Dead by Daylight and Fallout, and Diamonds cards from Civilisation 7 and Rust.
The update’s announcement trailer came from Microsoft’s ID@Xbox game showcase, and included another reveal: Balatro is now officially available on the Xbox Game Pass subscription service, to the surprise of everyone. Its arrival was not revealed in Xbox’s usual monthly Game Pass updates, but it’s a welcome surprise nonetheless.
Within 24 hours of this announcement, we also learned that developer LocalThunk had successfully appealed the video game rating system PEGI’s decision to categorise the game as PEGI 18. This ruling was due to the game being mistaken for being a Poker game with gambling mechanics - misunderstanding the fact that Balatro is inspired by Poker, rather than being a straightlaced Poker game.
Balatro is now being classified as a PEGI 12 game, with PEGI stating that “The PEGI 18 rating for the game Balatro has been changed to a PEGI 12 following a successful appeal submitted by publisher Sold Out Sales & Marketing. The Complaints Board concluded that, although the game explains the various hands of poker, the roguelike deck-building game contained mitigating fantastical elements that warranted a PEGI 12 rating."
Pretty good week to be a Balatro fan, all in all.
