'It's done when it's done:' Balatro developer Localthunk says crunch is never the answer
Localthunk, the anonymous developer behind award-winning roguelike Balatro, is delaying the title's upcoming 1.1 update to return to their hobbyist roots after experiencing burnout.
It's a candid admission that underlines a truth as old as time: crunch is a debilitating practice that harms video games and the people who make them.
In a lengthy blog post announcing the delay, Localthunk emphasised that point by explaining they have fallen out of love with development after working non-stop on Balatro for two years straight. They apologized for postponing the 1.1 update but said they probably shouldn't have dropped it on the calendar in the first place.
"The truth is that I probably shouldn't have announced any date for the 1.1 update at all. I'm a hobbyist developer at heart and I love to tinker. If you read my blog post about the Balatro timeline, you'll know that 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," they wrote.
"The struggles of pre-launch are detailed in that blog post, but unfortunately it didn't stop at launch. Immediately after Balatro 1.0 came out in February 2024 I dove right in to 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."
"I don't like trying to force things creatively"Localthunk explained they stopped working on Balatro for a couple of months at the end of 2024 in a bid to recover. Since then, they have refused to spend more than a few hours per day working on the title in order to course correct.
"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," they added.
"I still love drawing my silly jokers, I carry around a notebook that is now teeming with ideas to implement or test in the game, and thankfully I still consider this my hobby, but the prospect of rushing the work and going back into crunch mode to get it out this year just felt terrible."
Localthunk said they are working slowly but stressed that's how they find joy in the process.
"I love getting sucked into rabbit holes and I dont 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," they continued.
Although update 1.1 will no longer be releasing in 2025, Localthunk said they are "certain" it will still come out. The message now, however, is that it'll be "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," they finished.
"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 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."
