Balatro Helped PlayStack Fund More Indie Games, CEO Says

PlayStack says it will not become a single-genre publisher after Balatro and will pursue a varied slate while expanding its funding options.

Released in 2024, Balatro is an innovative Poker-based deck-building game that blends roguelite elements. After becoming a massive success and winning multiple awards, many games tried to take its roguelite gameplay and apply it to unique concepts, just as PlayStack did.

In an interview with Christopher Dring of The Game Business, PlayStack CEO Harvey Elliott stated that the deck-builder’s success allowed them to fund more projects, let them know they were doing something right, and gave them new confidence.

We never want to be gigantic. We never want to be [in a position of] ‘oh, another week, another Playstack game’. That’s not who we are. We probably have eight releases this year, which is quite a lot. It’s busy. It’s healthy.

Why PlayStack Does Not Want a 100% Indie Game Hit Rate

In the same interview, Harvey Elliott also said that a perfect hit rate would mean the Balatro publisher is rejecting the creative risks indie games need. 

“If you only did things that were safe and profitable, you don’t take as many risks, and I don’t think indie publishing is about that. Indie publishing and development is about taking risks. It’s about having an idea that people just generally don’t quite see how [it would work], but it becomes phenomenal and captures people. 85% is a really nice number; maybe 70% would be brilliant too. But 100%, we’re probably making some mistakes in what we’re filtering out.”

In May, Integrated Media Company purchased PlayStack for £125 million. Elliott is excited that this new ownership will give them the opportunity to take the risks they desire.

What do you hope to see from PlayStack in the future? Sound off about this story and all others in our official Discord server.

For more on Insider Gaming, check out the complete XBOX Disc-to-Digital games list. Also, don’t forget to sign up for our weekly newsletter.