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European Ratings Authority Increases Minimum Rating For Gambling To 18+

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Shaymin:
Why is this relevant now? Well, at least one current Switch game and a potential re-release is probably affected.http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/58242/european-ratings-authority-increases-minimum-rating-for-gambling-to-18A new European ratings board ruling has gone into effect that would have a major effect on current and potential future Switch releases.The PEGI board has determined that references to gambling would result in an automatic 18+ rating: according to reports, this actually began in early 2021. A recent example as spotted by AskAboutGames has found that the game Overboard!, released on 2 June with a 12+ rating for "mild violence, suggestive themes, use of alcohol" is now 18+ for "simulated gambling" due to a game of blackjack. In North America, Overboard has a T rating for "Suggestive Themes, Language, Use of Alcohol, Mild Violence, Simulated Gambling".The main effect of this would be for the Pokemon series: the 2016-18 Virtual Console releases on 3DS were rated 12+ for gambling in Europe due to the Game Corner's slot machines. Although the ratings have not changed for these old releases, every new Pokemon release in Europe since Heart Gold and Soul Silver (2010) have either removed the slot machines in favor of games of skill or removed the function altogether. Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl have reportedly replaced the Game Corner with the player character's clothing store, but a straight release of Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow on Switch would either require the Game Corner to be removed or the 18+ rating applied. (See update below)UPDATE 3 September: According to PEGI, re-releases of games that do not alter the "experience" significantly would maintain the 12+ rather than the 18+ rating. In the Pokemon example above, an HD remake of Pokemon Red/Blue would have to remove the Game Corner but a re-release of the originals would not. (The games were removed from the Game Corner in 2018's Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee which brought the European rating to 7+.)

Mythtendo:
Once again Europe ruins things for everyone. This is the same reason that the game corners were removed in Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee and why it won't be in Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl. Nintendo, and other publishers, don't want to spend extra money to make a separate version just for Europe, so the rest of the world gets screwed. If I was a publisher, I would just say f*** Europe and not release any products there. Europe is the same place that decided child rapists and murderers have the right to force search engines like Google to remove links about them (so if you googled their name, links to articles about their crimes won't show up)

UncleBob:

Luigi Dude:
Such a stupid change.  It's one thing to have a problem with loot boxes that take from people's real money, but nobody is being hurt in something like Pokemon's Game Corner that's uses in-game money that's not harming anyone in real life.

Tarasyring:
Well, I just installed and wanted to try ... why did I go to a forum where someone was dissatisfied with something. I will have to delete the game because of money extortion. I'll play better in 1bonzaspins

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