The Steam hit Balatro is inspired by poker, but is never intended to be a real game of chance. The developer is now making sure that the game cannot fall into the wrong hands even after his death.
What game is it? The card game Balatro was one of the big surprise hits on Steam in spring 2024. It is based on poker and belongs to the roguelike deck builder genre. Balatro was developed by a single man who even gave up his job for it.
On Steam, Balatro enjoys an “extremely positive” rating of 97% and is ranked 3rd among the best-rated card games. On August 7, 2024, the indie hit reached the milestone of 2 million units sold – an achievement that apparently surprised no one more than the developer himself.
The developer apparently invested part of the revenue in lawyers to ensure that his work never falls into the wrong hands.
Trailer for the roguelike poker game Balatro by LocalThunk
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Developer shows clear edge
What did the developer decide? The dev, who remains anonymous and appears online only under the name “LocalThunk”, announced on X on August 6, 2024 that he had included Balatro in his last will.
The programmer stipulated in his will that the IP may never be sold or licensed to a gambling company or casino, even after his death. This is to prevent Balatro from ever becoming a “real gambling game”.
LocalThunk was responding to a post in which – probably not entirely seriously – the “conspiracy theory” was put forward that Balatro was secretly a military project (“PsyOp”) to lure younger generations into casinos.
In a comment, the developer reported that in recent months he has already received offers to license the Balatro IP, presumably to release gambling games such as slot machines or video poker in the game’s design (via X).
In an interview, LocalThunk explained that he worked on Balatro alongside his job as a programmer. A very similar story had already happened a year earlier: Developer tinkered with his own game while working – Lands the Steam hit in 2022 and quits his job