Another game has been caught up in an odd ratings board situation that’s led to its delisting. Berserk Boy, released last week, has been pulled from the EU Nintendo eShop.
Per the developer of the same name, the 2D sidescroller was pulled for its age ratings. The game is being re-aged to a higher category for Russia, New Zealand, and Germany.
In the US, Berserk Boy is rated E10. Whatever rating it has in the affected areas, it apparently doesn’t cover the same age range as the ESRB’s listing.
BerserkBoy Games further stressed that players in those regions can still download and play the game despite its delisting.
“The first week hasn’t had the smoothest of launches,” noted BerserkBoy Games. The rating snag was compounded by getting knocked off Steam’s “New and Trending List” after EA suddenly dropped a number of classic games on the platform.
The developer is currently working with the EU eShop to get Berserk Boy back in the store. For other territories like the US, Japan, and Korea, the game is available on all platforms.
Non-US rating boards are having trouble with classifying games
What’s happening with Berserk Boy marks the second indie game to get flagged by EU ratings. In early March, Balatro was suddenly pulled from PlayStation, Nintendo, and Xbox stores in the UK.
At the time, that delisting was attributed to concerns of gambling. However, publisher Playstack stressed no such activity was in the game, and that it had already had the discussion with PEGI months prior.
That hasn’t stopped Balatro from becoming a sales hit. As of last week, it sold 500,000 copies, but it also wasn’t suddenly kneecapped by a surprise drop of PC games like Berserk Boy was.
As of March 8, Balatro is back on nearly all digital storefronts. The sole exception appears to be Japan’s eShop, which Playstack said it was “still looking into.”