Star Wars Outlaws will release with a high age rating in Korea partly thanks to gambling mini-game

Star Wars Outlaws is set to release with a 19+ rating in South Korea as the country’s ratings board declares it unsuitable for minors due to a gambling mini-game. 

As spotted by a Reddit user, the Game Rating and Administration Committee in Korea has rated the upcoming Ubisoft title ahead of its release this year. Surprisingly, for a Star Wars title, the rating board has said that the action-adventure game is unsuitable for those under 19 (the equivalent of an M/18 rating) in the country due to a mini-game containing in-game betting content.

According to the game’s official rating, Star Wars Outlaws features (machine translation) a “realistic simulation” of gambling due to a mini-game with “in-game betting and payouts.” What this likely means is a Star Wars-style representation of gambling like the Sabbac card game we saw in the game’s first trailer. Typically, Korea can be stringent regarding depictions of gambling in games, so it’s unclear if this rating will translate into other territories. 

What’s also interesting about this rating is that it could signify that Star Wars Outlaws is set to release sooner rather than later. Usually, a game’s rating is one of the last things it needs before it can be released – which could mean a release date announcement is imminent. 

At the time of writing, Ubisoft and developer Massive Entertainment have yet to give a more specific release date than just ‘2024’. Just before its reveal though, insiders claimed that Ubisoft’s mysterious open-world Star Wars game (which we now know is Outlaws) is set for an “early 2024” release. We can look forward to playing it on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC when it does eventually release.

Find out what else is coming from a galaxy far, far away with our upcoming Star Wars games list.