Hopefully this is the last time I have to make a post about this.

The Backstory

Back in August of 2023, Luck be a Landlord was banned in 13 countries on the Google Play Store. One of these countries was South Korea, where a decent percentage of my game's mobile revenue comes from. While I'd love to have the game unbanned in the other 12 countries, getting the game unbanned in South Korea was the top priority for financial reasons.

To do this, I applied (paid) for a GRAC rating from the Game Rating and Administration Committee. They gave Luck be a Landlord a "12+" rating, which resulted in Luck be a Landlord finally being unbanned on Google Play in South Korea in January of 2024.

However, in May of 2024 I received an email from GRAC stating that the game was re-rated to be only suitable for ages 19 and up.

All attempts to appeal this decision were ignored, and the "19+" rating seems like it won't be changed. This resulted in the game being banned on the Apple App Store in South Korea soon after.

The New Stuff

After discussing the matter with Apple support, I was told that the game would be unbanned from the App Store in South Korea if I uploaded my GRAC rating code to Apple's backend. Unfortunately, the prompt to do so would only appear if my game's global age rating was changed to "17+" for all regions.

I find this stipulation ridiculous, but frankly, I'm done fighting this. I've complied with Apple and GRAC and now the game is once again available on the App Store in South Korea.

The Conclusion

I've said it once but I'll say it again:

It is so horribly backwards that games with literal real-money gambling like Genshin Impact, Madden NFL 25, and Madden NFL 25 don't have an ESRB or PEGI rating higher than the "13+" equivalent.

This is the case while games that contain no actual real-money gambling like Balatro have an "18+" rating and have to go through all this garbage, simply because someone on a ratings board saw a screenshot of a poker chip and said "Hey! That looks like gambling!"

I'm sick of this, my next game won't have any gambling themes whatsoever. Congratulations ratings boards, you've successfully stifled creativity. Good thing you're doing such a great job protecting kids who are literally developing gambling addictions from loot boxes. Disgusting.