South Korea has removed the restriction on Luck be a Landlord

TrampolineTales, a solo developer, has managed to overturn the prohibition on its game Luck be a Landlord in South Korea, though the title still remains inaccessible in 12 other nations.

Luck be a Landlord is a roguelike deckbuilding game where players utilize a slot machine to generate income for rent by altering the symbols to achieve varied results. Despite its mechanics, the game's creator emphasizes that it does not simulate gambling and involves no real-world currency transactions or microtransactions.

Google had originally banned the game in 13 countries due to its gambling policies, a move later mirrored by Apple. South Korea was a key market from which the game was removed; developer Dan DiIorio highlighted that a significant share of his mobile earnings stemmed from there, prompting him to prioritize resolving the issue.

To address the situation, DiIorio sought a revised classification from South Korea's Game Rating and Administration Committee (GRAC), which initially assigned a 12+ rating, allowing its return to Google Play by January 2024.

By May 2024, GRAC reassessed the game as 19+, rejecting DiIorio's appeals against this decision.

Apple informed DiIorio that the game's reinstatement on South Korea's iOS App Store required updating Apple's backend with the new GRAC rating. According to his blog post, enabling this would necessitate altering Luck be a Landlord's global rating to 17+.

"This requirement is absurd, but I'm done contesting it," DiIorio stated. "I've adhered to Apple's and GRAC's conditions, and now the game is accessible on the App Store in South Korea again."

He later expressed frustration with the rating discrepancies, noting that games featuring microtransactions and chance elements, like Genshin Impact and Madden, are rated 13+ or below.

DiIorio remarked on the "backward logic," where games devoid of real-money gambling components receive higher age ratings, exemplified by Balatro, which faced similar issues due to superficial gambling imagery.

"I'm tired of this," DiIorio continued, vowing that his future projects will avoid gambling motifs. He criticized the ratings boards for stifling creativity while purportedly failing to safeguard youth from actual gambling risks posed by loot boxes.