Hello @everyone,
I have some big Balatro news to share today, but before I do that I wanted to say how unbelievable the love and support I’ve received in recent weeks has been - the groundswell of community passion for this game completely caught me off guard and has been both inspiring and terrifying. There is a huge amount of work up ahead so I’d like to explain how Balatro will evolve in the upcoming months.
To make sure that Balatro reaches its full potential, I have enlisted the publisher Playstack to help support it. Playstack has supported some amazing games such as AK-xolotl, The Case of the Golden Idol, The Last Faith and Mortal Shell, so I’m really excited for their help. Having Playstack take care of some of the day-to-day stuff will allow me to refocus on developing Balatro, and their expertise will help me better navigate through many of the new challenges I have been facing. Their help will also afford me to do things I wouldn't be able to do alone, such as potentially releasing on other platforms and high quality localization support.
This does mean there will be some quick changes that I want everyone to be aware of and, with you as my earliest supporters, I want to be transparent:
**Balatro Playtest is closing ** 
If you’re queueing for the Playtest, I know you will undoubtedly be disappointed that we are closing the Playtest plan.
The truth is that the queue for the Playtest has outgrown its intended size by many orders of magnitude. As the line of people patiently waiting grew rapidly, the Playtest suddenly no longer fit its intended purpose which was to allow a few people to play the game and give me feedback.
There are so many people joining the queue who have virtually no chance of playing a full Playtest before the game releases, so I needed to make a real improvement by changing this system.
Also, currently only a handful of people have access to the Playtest and streaming rights, which is ultimately going to cause confusion and friction. So closing the Playtest will also mean that - just for now - streams and videos of the game are intentionally going to dry up.
However…
New demo: Coming September 
In September I will be launching a new Balatro demo that will be accessible for everyone.
This demo will be more compact and focused, offering a smaller slice of the full Balatro experience (This demo will not be capped at 50 rounds). The September demo will NOT be an official entry of the October NextFest, however it will be available to download and play during the same time as the festival runs.
You can get notified of the new demo going live, and stay notified on all future demos and releases, by joining our exclusive newsletter here: https://www.PlayBalatro.com
The NextFest demo: Coming February 
Balatro will be releasing early next year, and in February I’ll launch the official NextFest demo.
Details on this demo are still coming together, but my intention is to expand on the September demo with more Jokers, new ideas, and different scenarios.
Like with the September demo, you can sign up to the Newsletter on https://www.PlayBalatro.com to stay in the loop.
Community Support 
You might have noticed our community has been expanding rapidly too, and my best guess is this won’t be stopping anytime soon. A big part of Playstack’s responsibility will be to help me grow and manage this community - some of their faces you will have already seen and I hope you get acquainted with them!
Over the next few days there will be some restructuring to the Discord and new community guidelines in place, all to make sure this remains a space for everyone to enjoy.
Thank you again for your support, and I can’t wait to share the next demo in September!
tired gazelle
old helm
unique creek
lucid inlet
Next Fest Kickoff: Welcome New Players!
Balatro Store Page Stream
rich holly
worn cloak
fleet drift
Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year
