“Roguelike can be anything”: Krafton exec is very tired of being pitched “Balatro with different cards”
A Krafton executive has expressed frustration with the current state of game pitches in the investment and publishing space, specifically citing fatigue from repeatedly hearing variations of “Balatro with different cards” as project concepts.
The comments came during a panel on games industry investment and publishing deals at Digital Dragons, an annual industry conference. The panel featured senior M&A (mergers and acquisitions) professionals discussing trends in game industry financing and publishing partnerships.
The exec’s remarks highlight a broader frustration within the investment community about the saturation of roguelike game pitches following Balatro’s massive indie success. The comment suggests that while roguelikes remain a popular genre framework, the influx of derivative pitches with superficial variations—swapping out card mechanics for different themes or systems—represents a creativity gap in the project concepts being greenlit or seeking funding.
The headline references the exec’s apparent exasperation with both the formulaic nature of these pitches and the oversimplification of what the roguelike genre encompasses, suggesting there’s considerably more creative potential within the space than the wave of “Balatro clone” pitches demonstrates. The comment serves as a window into investment community sentiment and what types of projects are currently saturating pitch meetings across the industry.