In Aug. 2024, Balatro creator LocalThunk promised players a new update would hit the roguelike digital card game in 2025. Over a year later, the 1.1 update still hasn’t arrived, and according to LocalThunk, announcing it at all was a mistake.
“The truth is that I probably shouldn’t have announced any date for the 1.1 update at all,” LocalThunk shared in a recent blog post entitled “I’m Slow.”
Referring to himself as a “hobbyist developer at heart” who “love[s] to tinker,” LocalThunk says his game’s meteoric rise to success left him feeling pretty burned out.
“Since the game went public in the summer of 2023 I have become all too familiar with the crunch and stress that inherently come with professional game development,” the developer wrote, adding that “the struggles of pre-launch” continued even after the game had finally launched.
“Immediately after Balatro 1.0 came out in February 2024 I dove right into a big balance patch (1.0.1), then into the mobile port of the game right after, and by the time the mobile version came out in late 2024 I was well and truly burned out,” LocalThunk admitted.
After the 1.0.1 update, LocalThunk took a break from everything Balatro, before slowly easing himself back into the game’s development in early 2025. After returning to development, LocalThunk decided to approach the game’s development the way he had initially: as a hobbyist, working a few hours a day, as opposed to the 12-hour crunch shifts he endured around the game’s launch. The 1.1 update is on the way, he assures players, but it won’t be happening this year.
“I am working slowly, but I like it that way,” LocalThunk shared. “I won’t be making the 2025 deadline I said I would. Balatro 1.1 will still come out, of that I am certain, but the new timeline is going to be it’s done when it’s done. It will be a free update for everyone on all platforms when it’s ready, and it’ll probably need some adjustments when it’s out there in the world (like 1.0 did), but that won’t be this year.”
After apologizing for the delay, the Balatro dev offered players a bit of reassurance.
“The Balatro player in me will absolutely not allow me walk away from developing this game. I’m already super excited to try and 100% the game all over again from a second profile when 1.1 is ready. Rest assured, it will happen.”
