Balatro Developer Comments on Update 1.1 Progress

The developer LocalThunk has just confirmed that they are still actively working on it Balatro 1.1 update. This official comment comes via a new blog post on LocalThunk's website celebrating Balatrosecond anniversary by shedding more light on the developer's life as a student.

Back in August 2024, LocalThunk announced that Balatro would receive a “major game update” in the future, one that would “bring new ideas and strategies to the game.” This has since become known as Balatros 1.1 update, and it was originally slated for a 2025 release. However, in September 2025, LocalThunk confirmed via a blog post titled “I'm Slow” that the 1.1 update would not be released by the end of the year. LocalThunk explained that they are a “hobbyist developer at heart” and that they would rather spend just a few hours a day working on the 1.1 update than spend 12 hours a day on it, as they were with the full game right before its release in February 2024. To avoid disappointing fans, LocalThunk stated that the new release window for Balatros 1.1 update is simply “when it's ready.”

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LocalThunk gives official statement about Balatro 1.1 update

Posted on February 20, 2026 to highlight Balatros second anniversary, LocalThunk's latest blog post ends with a very short message from the developer that simply says, “PS Yes, I'm still working on 1.1.” This is obviously a very simple statement that doesn't really shed any new light on the update or its contents, but it is the first official statement regarding the update that LocalThunk has given since then. Balatro1.1 delay in September 2025.

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LocalThunk reflects on university life and their first video game project

The vast majority of LocalThunk's recent blog posts see the developer sharing details about his university education. The blog post begins with Balatro creators who openly discussed their decision to drop out of an engineering degree in their senior year because they “just didn't have the passion for it.” Instead, LocalThunk would sign up for a computer science degree because they had taken an introductory class a few semesters earlier and had found a love for programming. They go on to describe their “obsession” with creating a variety of programs – projects that would see them working late into the night and often into the early hours of the next morning. In LocalThunk's own words, “It was the best time of my life.”

LocalThunk then shares details of their very first video game project, a “land-grab simulation” inspired by Risk and Europa Universalis. The developer continued to work on this ambitious project throughout his time at the university, writing code in the back of classrooms and during his part-time job. Although the game was never finished and was only shown to a handful of friends and family members, LocalThunk says the sense of creative freedom they had while working on it is why they kept game development as a hobby years later.

LocalThunk's blog post ends with Balatro developers reflecting on the version of themselves that tried to create that strategy game years ago. They say that even if they could warn their past selves of whatever was on the horizon, they're not sure what they could have said to properly prepare them. Just before the confirmation that Balatro The 1.1 update is still in active development, LocalThunk shares this piece of sentimental introspection:

“With all the success, baggage, attention, heartache, fear, stress, and joy I've had since Balatro was created, at least the old version of myself remains. Last night I was up until the wee hours drawing pixel art, writing code, and listening to music in my quiet house. Idea book open beside me, cup of decaf to keep you up for everyone… late.”