Having finally dealt with simulated gambling in Balatro, PEGI turns their eye on free to play and gacha.
Europe’s game rating authority PEGI is turning up the heat on gacha games beyond Belgium outright banning some of them.
Five Nintendo or Nintendo-adjacent games now show a PEGI age rating of 16 in European app stores: Fire Emblem Heroes (character gacha), the now-closed Mario Kart Tour (character / cart randomness originally), Pokemon Masters EX (character gacha), Pokemon TCG Pocket (random card packs), and Pokemon Go (multiple methods and desired results). Some of the games have been restricted in other regions previously, such as Heroes being removed from the app store in Belgium, Masters EX and Pocket never releasing there, and anti-“loot box” legislation in Brazil preventing the sale of egg incubators or research containing incubator rewards in the country as of June 2026.
PEGI have taken a strong stance on gambling even in a simulated form in recent years. Infamously, the blackjack-themed indie hit Balatro went through multiple rating changes which required the game to be pulled from sale on the European eShop before it finally settled at a 12 rating, and the releases of Pokemon Fire Red and Leaf Green on the Switch in February were rated 12 due to simulated gambling in the form of the Game Corner.
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