The Chief Investment Officer at KRAFTON is tired of the trend among developers for deck-building "roguelikes"
Over the past year, he was asked to fund approximately 250 such games.
Balatro
Victor Lee, who holds the position of Director of Global Investment at KRAFTON, shared his thoughts on deck-building “roguelikes” during the Digital Dragons 2026 conference.
According to Lee, developers often create similar projects that can be described as “Balatro, just with different cards.” Choosing something for investment among them seems like a challenging task to him. Moreover, he is uncertain whether the audience will still be interested in this genre by the time of release.
Lee explained that the situation with deck-building “roguelikes” is not unique. This frequently occurs in the gaming industry: at some point, developers start chasing a particular trend en masse, leading to a conveyor belt of games that resemble each other. He doesn't see this development as a big problem but notes that the trend cycle is gradually becoming shorter and shorter — studios need to understand this.
“If you spend a very small amount of money, take minimal risks to quickly release something on the market and see what happens — great. But if you’re betting your life on a genre with low risk and a low entry barrier, think carefully about how many people are even playing it. Truly evaluate how big this market is," Lee stated.
Lee himself prefers to sign contracts with developers who are genuinely passionate about a certain genre, even if it has lost commercial appeal.