A recent interview with LocalThunk, the creator of the highly acclaimed indie title Balatro, revealed major updates are on the way. Balatro began to gain traction back in 2023 when a popular streamer, Dan Gheesling, played the title for their 100,000 subscribers to see, all while the creator was on his way to see their doctor. Since that time, Balatro has garnered a massive amount of attention, as even huge YouTubers such as Markiplier can't seem to get enough of the addictive roguelike deckbuilder.

In a recent interview with Bloomberg, LocalThunk discusses how Balatro got its start and what the future holds for the fan-favorite indie game.

Balatro Creator Discusses How The Title Came To Be

This Was LocalThunk's First Title Released To The Public

The creator of Balatro, who goes by the name LocalThunk online, was on his way to a doctor's appointment when they received a text from a friend that ended up changing his life forever. LocalThunk's first-ever title was gaining traction thanks to a pretty large streamer, and his doctor even mentioned his blood pressure was through the roof, as he was concerned about the response from gamers seeing the game online. Little did the creator know that this would be the beginning of major success for Balatro.

A few short months later, Balatro had sold over 5 million copies and became an extremely popular and addictive title. While the developer began creating Balatro ​​​​​​back in 2021 as nothing more than a hobby in his spare time, other titles he worked on for fun never ended up making it to the market. LocalThunk felt as though most of the felt generic, and not worth continuing the development of the title in question. Balatro was different. His friend mentioned they played for several hours and really liked the game he sent over, which made LocalThunk feel like he was onto something.

What's Next For Balatro?

LocalThunk Won't Share Much, But Updates Are Coming

LocalThunk did not share much in of details, but he did share that a new 1.1 update for Balatro is currently in the works. The reason for tight-lips currently? LocalThunk does not want to share anything that could end up changing before launch. He did state it will be released "at some point this year", and he plans to make major changes to the Matador Joker and change the "blue stake" modifier a bit. Other than those details, not much else was shared about the future, so fans will need to wait until the 1.1 update launch to see all the new additions to Balatro.

Source: Bloomberg