YouTube Responds to Balatro Creator, Admits Age Restriction Was a Mistake
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Key points
- YouTube responds to LocalThunk’s post about Balatro videos being age-restricted on the platform, saying that it was a mistake.
- The video-sharing platform also mentioned that they are now doing a platform-wide review.
- Balatro was released in 2024 and won Game of the Year at the Game Developers Choice Awards 2025.
On April 8, YouTube responded to LocalThunk’s social media post regarding Balatro videos being rated 18+ on the video-sharing platform. YouTube mentioned that this was a mistake and that they are already conducting a platform-wide review.
LocalThunk’s frustration about the age restriction can be seen on his April 6 tweet. In it, he acknowledged that Balatro is getting rated 18+ and sarcastically commented, “Good thing we are protecting children from knowing what a 4 of a kind is and letting them watch CS case opening videos instead.”
This is a jab at Counter-Strike case opening videos that are populating YouTube. Some of these case opening videos have been linked to gambling sites. Since Balatro does not contain any gambling, it’s pretty unfair to have it flagged as such. Additionally, a creator’s video being age-restricted is often a death sentence for it as it won’t reach a wide audience.
PC Gamer confirmed that the YouTube comment under LocalTunk’s tweet is a genuine response. According to them, a spokesperson from the platform verified that the response was legitimate.
Balatro is an indie game developed by LocalThunk and was released in 2024. The game was received positively, even reaching “Universal Acclaim” on Metacritic. It also won Game of the Year at the Game Developers Choice Awards 2025.
