Starting this week.

The Australian Government has announced changes to the way video games are classified in Australia. Starting from September 22nd, 2024, two new rules will apply to games that include “in-game purchases with an element of chance,” such as loot boxes [now M], and games that feature “simulated gambling,” like casino games [now R18+].

  • Drusenija@lemmy.worldEnglish
    221·
    2 days ago

    Games that have already been classified prior to September 22nd aren’t affected by this unless they need to go through classification again, however I’m going to laugh if Pokemon Red & Blue are rereleased on the Switch 2 at some point in the future and get slapped with an R18+ rating 😂

    • dormedas@lemmy.dormedas.comEnglish
      10·
      2 days ago

      Yeah, GameFreak figured out the casino stuff wasn’t a good idea in gen 4 (HeartGold/SoulSilver) and replaced slots with Voltorb Flip outside of Japan, and otherwise closed the game corner in subsequent titles. In Pokémon: Let’s Go (Gen7) the player receives Porygon from a random person instead of needing to grind coins in the casino. Would be interesting to see if they could/would hack in that change.