LocalThunk delays Balatro update to avoid “crunch mode”

Balatro’s 1.1 update has been delayed indefinitely, with creator LocalThunk explaining they’ve returned to working on the game “as a hobbyist.”

In a post titled “I’m Slow” published on the developer’s website on September 12, 2025, LocalThunk – the sole developer on the critically acclaimed poker roguelike – revealed that Balatro’s 1.1 update won’t come out in 2025, as previously announced.

“I know, I announced that it would, but it has become clear now that it won’t happen by the end of the year, and I wanted to tell you all now,” LocalThunk wrote in the post. “I feel bad for not keeping that promise, and I am sorry.”

“The truth is that I probably shouldn’t have announced any date for the 1.1 update at all,” the post continued.

LocalThunk explained that they have become “all too familiar with the crunch and stress that inherently come with professional game development” since Balatro “went public” in 2023 and that these struggles “didn’t stop at launch.”

Following the release of Balatro 1.0 in February 2024, the developer “dove right in” to the game’s 1.0.1 balance patch, which was released in August 2024, then into the mobile port. By the time Balatro’s mobile version was released in September 2024, LocalThunk was “well and truly burned out.”

“I took a break from everything to do with the game for a few months until the start of 2025, when I very slowly eased myself back into the work,” the Balatro creator explained.

“However, I chose to only work on the game like I did when the project began, as a hobbyist (a few hours per day, and not always on the 1.1 update), and it turns out that it’s a lot slower than working in crunch mode 12 hours per day like I was around launch.”

The developer said they still consider game development their “hobby,” but “the prospect of rushing the work and going back into crunch mode to get it out this year just felt terrible.”

“I am working slowly, but I like it that way,” the post continued. “I love getting sucked into rabbit holes and I don’t like trying to force things creatively.

“I have never, before Balatro, set a deadline for any of my creative projects and I now realize how important that is for my process.

“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. I don’t want 1.1 to be the last update this game gets.”

LocalThunk now says Balatro’s free 1.1 update will be “done when it’s done/”

“I posted a few months ago that I finally got 100% of the achievements in Balatro, and for a bit of reassurance, the Balatro player in me will absolutely not allow me [to] walk away from developing this game,” LocalThunk continued.

“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.

Released on February 24, 2024, Balatro has been a huge success for both LocalThunk and the game’s publisher, Playstack.

The deck-building roguelite grossed $1 million within eight hours of its release and has swept up numerous awards, including Game of the Year at the Game Developers’ Choice Awards 2025 and Best Debut Game at the BAFTA Game Awards 2025.

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz in May 2025, Harvey Elliott, CEO Playstack, called the indie hit a “changer” for both Playstack and the industry.

“I think it’s really shown, once again, [that] when great, highly captivating games come to market, it doesn’t matter if it’s made by one person or a hundred people,” he said.