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.
LocalThunk says his pre-release crunch and stress "didn't stop at launch," as he went straight into update 1.0.1, then the mobile port, "and by the time the mobile version came out in late 2024 I was well and truly burned out."
He stepped away from the game for several months and then, at the start of this year, "very slowed eased myself back into the work" with irregular development progress, which wasn't always focused on update 1.1.
"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.
LocalThunk says he's happier working slowly and with fewer constraints, letting himself wander wherever his ideas take him.
"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."
To that end, the new schedule for Balatro update 1.1 is simple: "It's done when it's done." LocalThunk stresses that "the Balatro player in me will absolutely not allow me walk away from developing this game," so the update "will happen," but without a hard release date boxing it in.
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.
