Balatro Shadowdropped on Battlepass, Announces Assassin’s Creed and Civ VII Collabs
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- Balatro is collaborating with the Assassin’s Creed, CIV VII, Dead by Daylight and more.
- The roguelike will be included in Xbox Gamepass.
- The game’s PEGI 18 rating was overturned to a PEGI 12.
Balatro announced collaborations with various triple A titles. As a part of the Friends of Jimbo pack 4, the collaborative release added skins referencing Assassin’s Creed, Civilization VII, Dead by Daylight, Critical Robe, Fallout, Slay the Princess, Bugsnax, and Rust.
The collaboration debuts card skins that have no impact on gameplay.
In addition to the collaborations, Microsoft revealed the game’s inclusion in Xbox GamePass. For a single day, February 24, players with access to Xbox GamePass are able to acquire the game for free.
The plethora of news was revealed shortly after Balatro was reclassified to PEGI 12 from its original PEGI 18 rating. This change followed a successful appeal from the game’s publisher, Sold Out & Marketing – allowing the game to have a more widespread allure, as it is no longer bogged down by its 18+ age restrictions.
Balatro’s original age restrictions were largely due to its arguably strong gambling portrayal – a sentiment the developer of the game harshly disagrees with.
“Since PEGI gave us an 18+ rating for having evil playing cards maybe I should add microtransactions/loot boxes/real gambling to lower that rating to 3+ like EA sports FC,” creator of Balatro, LocalThunk, shared on Twitter.
Since release, Balatro has reportedly sold over five million copies. Developed solely by LocalThunk, Balatro has ‘Overwhelmingly Positive’ reviews on Steam, having earned widespread critical acclaim at the 2024 Game Awards. The game is available on Nintendo Switch, PC, mobile, Playstation, and Xbox.
