Poker roguelike Balatro is nominated in 5 classes on the 2024 Sport Awards, together with the highest spot — Sport of the Yr. Solo developer LocalThunk stands as the one indie developer within the Sport of the Yr and Finest Sport Route classes, which have the identical lineup: Astro Bot, Balatro, Black Fantasy: Wukong, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, Closing Fantasy 7 Rebirth, and Metaphor: ReFantazio. Balatro can also be nominated for Finest Unbiased Sport, Finest Debut Indie Sport, and Finest Cellular Sport. Balatro was launched in February on Nintendo Swap, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Home windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Sequence X. It got here to cellular in September.
Balatro developer LocalThunk (who makes use of a pseudonym on-line) advised gamerlifemedia it’s “utterly surreal” to be nominated among the many likes of heavy hitters Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdree, Closing Fantasy 7 Rebirth, and the others. “The extra time goes on the extra I really feel like I simply occurred to stumble into profitable the sport developer lottery. I’d prefer to suppose the sport has attraction however I really feel that attraction pales compared to the unimaginable different nominees.”
LocalThunk added that he was “completely blindsided” by the Sport of the Yr nomination, however plans to rejoice with a pleasant dinner along with his accomplice.
“I’ve been fortunate sufficient to share this journey with lots of fellow indie builders and the outpouring of affection and assist from them and my family and friends has been overwhelming,” LocalThunk added.
