Balatro creator says it’s “useless” for him to give advice to other devs because “I only have one data point” and it was a 5 million-sale success story

LocalThunk, developer of the phenomenally successful Balatro, has weighed in on a conversation about indie games, his unique place within the industry, and why “I really hate when people in my position don’t see the absurd bias we have.”

Mat Piscatella, an industry analyst at Circana posts on Bluesky that “it’s impossible to selectively ‘find’ and fund the one next massive viral hit indie game.” When a game like Balatro sells over 5 million copies, publishers obviously want to find the next one, but who would have predicted a poker roguelite would be nominated at The Game Awards?