Balatro began as a spare-time project, but by its February 2024 launch, LocalThunk says it had become a full-time job involving public feedback, publisher coordination, porting and localization work, and a deadline he found difficult to manage. In “The Balatro Timeline,” published March 6, 2025, the developer traces how the game grew—and describes the toll he says the pressure took on his sleep and heart.
A hobby that started during vacation time
LocalThunk dates the project’s beginning to December 13, 2021, when he created a folder for what would become Balatro while using vacation time saved from his IT job. The first idea was an online version of Big Cheat, but the project soon changed direction.
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In early 2022, the working title became Joker Poker. He worked on it during evenings and weekends, then paused in March when his creative drive faded. He returned in May. At that stage, he says, “I really didn’t have any commercial aspirations at this time.”
During 2022, he added Jokers and boss blinds. A friend’s enthusiastic response to a beta build encouraged him to expand the game, adding controller and touch support, a soundtrack, effects, and other features. The project was growing, but it was still being made alongside his day job.
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From spare-time development to a commercial release
After moving provinces with his partner, LocalThunk quit his IT job in January 2023 and decided to develop the game full time for the next three to six months. In spring and early summer, he renamed it Balatro, built a Steam page, and put out a public beta. Player feedback, attention from streamers, and an approach from a publisher made a commercial release seem possible.
He hired a lawyer to help with contract negotiations and business setup, then signed with Playstack. LocalThunk says the publisher helped with marketing, porting, localization, and bringing the game to console platforms. These opportunities also added work and coordination to a project that had started as a personal experiment.
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The months of pressure before launch
LocalThunk says his sleep and heart problems began in August 2023, as he dealt with public attention and pressure to finish before February 2024. Increased interaction in Discord and the growing demands of development left him feeling overwhelmed. He recalls that by October, his symptoms had worsened and he sometimes slept upright on a couch.
“I really struggled with my physical and mental health from this time onward all the way up to launch. This was entirely because of the stress around dealing with the public, players, and the pressure to get everything done before February 2024.”
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That is LocalThunk’s explanation of his own experience, not an independently established medical finding. In January 2024, he recounts an episode involving tunnel vision and a pounding heart. He says he called his doctor and went to an appointment the next morning. In his timeline, he describes the doctor’s response this way: “He assures me that this wasn’t a heart attack or heart failure but an anxiety attack.”
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What LocalThunk says happened at launch
Balatro launched on February 20, 2024. LocalThunk writes that its launch was “10-20 times larger than we were anticipating.” He reports 208,401 Steam wishlists by launch day, 50,000 Steam copies sold within a couple of hours, more than $600,000 in Steam revenue at that point, and 119,000 Steam units sold by the end of launch day.
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- 150 Jokers, each with their own unique abilities.
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- 5 potential variants of each Joker which add further abilities.
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- 11 Planet cards that help level up your possible poker hands.
| Measure | LocalThunk’s reported figure |
|---|---|
| Steam wishlists by launch day | 208,401 |
| Steam copies sold within a couple of hours | 50,000 |
| Steam revenue after a couple of hours | More than $600,000 |
| Steam units sold by the end of launch day | 119,000 |
These are historical figures from the developer’s retrospective, not independently audited sales data. The revenue figure is Steam revenue as he described it; it does not establish his personal profit. The “10–20 times” comparison is his characterization of how the launch compared with expectations, not a separately defined sales measure.
Why the timeline matters
LocalThunk’s account shows how Balatro moved through several stages: an idea pursued during vacation, an evenings-and-weekends project, full-time development, a publisher-supported release, and a launch far larger than he expected. In his telling, the same growth that created the opportunity also brought public-facing demands and a deadline that weighed on him.
“The Balatro Timeline” is a retrospective written by the developer, whom the secondary coverage identifies as the game’s solo developer. It is useful as his account of the game’s development and his reported experience, not as an independent medical assessment or audited record of sales.
Sources: LocalThunk, “The Balatro Timeline,” March 6, 2025; Grant Taylor-Hill, Insider Gaming, March 8, 2025.
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