Balatro Developer Comments on Update 1.1 Progress

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LocalThunk, the developer of the popular game Balatro, has confirmed they are still working on the 1.1 update. The announcement was made in a recent blog post on their website, which also celebrated Balatro’s second anniversary and gave fans a glimpse into the developer’s life as a student.

So, back in August 2024, the developers of Balatro, LocalThunk, hinted at a big update coming, promising some really cool new ways to play. We started calling it the 1.1 update, and they originally aimed to have it out sometime in 2025. But then, in September 2025, they posted on their blog, jokingly titled ‘I’m Slow,’ and said it wouldn’t be ready by the end of the year. Basically, the dev is a hobbyist and wants to work on it at a comfortable pace – a few hours a day – instead of burning themselves out like they did before the game initially launched in February 2024. They don’t want to rush it and let us down, so now they’re just saying the 1.1 update will release ‘when it’s done.’

LocalThunk Gives Official Statement on Balatro 1.1 Update

To celebrate the two-year anniversary of Balatro, LocalThunk recently published a blog post. It ended with a short note from the developer confirming they are still working on update 1.1. While the message doesn’t offer any details about the update itself, it’s the first official word on its progress since the delay announcement back in September 2025.

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LocalThunk Reflects on College Life and Their First Video Game Project

In their latest blog post, the creator of Balatro shared details about their time in university. They explained that they left their engineering program in their final year because they simply weren’t passionate about it. Instead, they decided to study computer science, having already discovered a love for programming in an introductory course. They describe becoming completely absorbed in creating programs, often working late into the night. They fondly remember this period as “the best time of my life.”

LocalThunk described their initial game project as a strategy game similar to Risk and Europa Universalis, where players compete to control territory. They continued developing this ambitious game throughout college, coding whenever they had free time – even in the back of classrooms and during work. Although the game was never finished and only shared with a small group, LocalThunk credits the creative freedom they experienced while making it as the reason they’ve continued to enjoy game development as a hobby.

The developer of Balatro recently shared a thoughtful reflection on their blog, looking back at the person they were when they first started working on the game. They admit that even knowing everything that was coming, they don’t know what advice they could have given their past self to truly prepare them. This personal note came just before they confirmed that the 1.1 update for Balatro is still being worked on.

Despite all the ups and downs – the excitement, the challenges, and everything in between – I’m still the same person I was before Balatro took off. Last night, I found myself happily lost in the familiar routine of creating pixel art, coding, and listening to music, tucked away in my quiet home with a notebook full of ideas and a cup of decaf. Thank you all for letting me continue to indulge my late-night habits.

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2026-02-22 00:08