Balatro creator LocalThunk says update 1.1 will not be coming to the hit poker roguelike this year after all, and it seems he kind of regrets announcing a release date for it as he becomes accustomed to a new workflow and lifestyle post-release.
In a new blog post, LocalThunk confirms that update 1.1 has been delayed to 2026, and more importantly, he unpacks the realities of game development. Even when you have Balatro money, making games is still hard and stressful, it turns out.
"I'm slow," the post is titled. "I am sorry," it reads. "The truth is that I probably shouldn’t have announced any date for the 1.1 update at all," LocalThunk reckons.
"It turns out that it’s a lot slower than working in crunch mode 12 hours per day like I was around launch," he says.
"I am in a very lucky position in that I can choose to work this job however I wish, and I think the best version of 'work' for me is the version that makes me want to come back to my keyboard every day, healthy, and hopefully just as excited about game development 5 years from now as I am today," he says. "I don’t want 1.1 to be the last update this game gets."
Frankly, Balatro is already endlessly replayable, so this big free update can take its sweet time as far as I'm concerned – and developers killing crunch is a trend I hope to see continue.
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