The anonymous solo developer behind hit poker roguelike Balatro said there’s a part of him that regrets the game’s success, as he misses when creating games was just a hobby.
LocalThunk, as he’s known, wishes to remain anonymous even with the enormous success of the game – the mobile release alone has reportedly made almost $4.4m.
When asked in an interview with GQ if he regrets Balatro’s success, he replied: “Honestly, yeah. Don’t get me wrong – this has changed my life in a lot of amazing ways. I’m so grateful. But I do miss that time before. It was just a hobby that recharged my batteries. Sometimes I think, ‘Maybe I would’ve been happier if I had never released this game to the public.'”
The developer said he treated game creation as a hobby, but the success of Balatro had brought him a huge amount of attention. He even admitted he could retire after this game alone and just make games for fun.
“This last year has been by far the most stressful year of my life,” LocalThunk said. “These days I try and think about, what will get me back to where I was when I was making this – when it was relaxing as a hobby. I want to return there.”
He continued: “If I were to make another game after Balatro, which I’m not really thinking about right now, it would be really cathartic to make it and not show anyone. Put it in a folder on my desktop and leave it there. Just for me.”
Still, LocalThunk said he planned to continue updating the game in 2025 and had “a lot of fun ideas for directions” to take Balatro, more than just one update’s worth, though he doesn’t know how many he’ll be able to implement.
More jokers are definite though, as he hasn’t added any since the game’s release.
Balatro is nominated for the big award at tonight’s The Game Awards. It’s even part of the latest Cyberpunk 2077 update as a secret quest in collaboration with CD Projekt Red.