Poker roguelike Balatro is nominated in five categories at the 2024 Game Awards, including the top spot — Game of the Year. Solo developer LocalThunk stands as the only indie developer in the Game of the Year and Best Game Direction categories, which have the same lineup: Astro Bot, Balatro, Black Myth: Wukong, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, and Metaphor: ReFantazio. Balatro is also nominated for Best Independent Game, Best Debut Indie Game, and Best Mobile Game. Balatro was released in February on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. It came to mobile in September.
Balatro developer on Game Awards nomination: ‘Completely surreal’
LocalThunk was ‘completely blindsided’ by the GOTY nomination
Image: LocalThunk/Playstack
Nicole Carpenter is a senior reporter specializing in investigative features about labor issues in the game industry, as well as the business and culture of games.
Balatro developer LocalThunk (who uses a pseudonym online) told Polygon it’s “completely surreal” to be nominated among the likes of heavy hitters Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdree, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, and the others. “The more time goes on the more I feel like I just happened to stumble into winning the game developer lottery. I’d like to think the game has appeal but I feel that appeal pales in comparison to the incredible other nominees.”
LocalThunk added that he was “totally blindsided” by the Game of the Year nomination, but plans to celebrate with a nice dinner with his partner.
Balatro had the kind of breakout success that many studios and developers could only dream of: In less than a month, the game surpassed more than one million copies sold. And that was well before Balatro was released on mobile, where it reportedly brought in more than $500,000 in less than a week, per MobileGamer.biz. Over the past year, developer LocalThunk has pieced together lots of crossovers with other indie games — including putting a version of Balatro in fellow Best Independent Game nominee (albeit in 2023) Dave the Diver. But there’s still more to come: A gameplay update is expected in 2025.
“I have been lucky enough to share this journey with a lot of fellow indie developers and the outpouring of love and support from them and my friends and family has been overwhelming,” LocalThunk added.
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