Onmyoji Card Game Caught Copying Balatro's Gameplay & UI — Indie Hit Has Been on Steam for Only One Month

One month. That's all it took. The Steam indie hit Balatro had been out for barely a month — just crossing the 1 million sales mark — when Chinese players spotted what appeared to be a shameless copy-paste job inside NetEase's gacha card game Onmyoji Card Game (百闻牌). An NGA user dropped a detailed exposé with multiple side-by-side comparison screenshots, and the verdict from the community was swift and merciless.

The original post laid it bare: both the gameplay mechanics and UI layout of Onmyoji Card Game's new event mode were accused of being lifted straight from Balatro — a roguelike deckbuilder built on a poker foundation that took the gaming world by storm after its February 2024 launch. The poster's verdict: "Whether it's the gameplay or the UI, this is a straight-up copy."

The comment section erupted. One highly upvoted commenter quipped: "Nobody beats NetEase in the speed-copypaste race!" Others dug up old receipts — a previous title under the Onmyoji IP had already been caught copying another indie game called "Yi Xian: The Cultivation Card Game" (弈仙牌). Old habits die hard, apparently. Another commenter noted that NetEase has been the fastest at this game for years: from PUBG-style battle royales to party games à la Fall Guys, and now Balatro — they're always first to market with cloned mechanics.

But beyond the plagiarism debate, players raised a more legally sensitive question: Balatro's core mechanic is a Texas Hold'em poker variant, and poker-based gambling mechanics are explicitly restricted under Chinese regulations — even Tencent wouldn't dare touch it. "Making a poker game domestically? That's asking for trouble," one user warned. Additionally, Balatro itself had its age rating bumped from 3+ to 18+ overseas due to its card art, adding another layer of risk.

Some commenters also pointed out the broader industry pattern: mobile games routinely rip off indie titles as built-in mini-games — it's not just a NetEase problem. Meanwhile, the rivalry between NetEase (nicknamed "Pig Factory" 猪厂) and Tencent ("Goose Factory" 鹅厂) continues to be a spectacle, with fans joking that the two giants keep "paying tribute" to each other in an endless race of who can copy faster. As of now, NetEase has not issued any official response to the allegations.

From battle royales to party games to poker roguelikes, NetEase's legendary speed at incorporating hot indie trends has been validated yet again. But one month? Even by their standards, that's a new record. Whether this leads to legal action or regulatory scrutiny remains to be seen — but the NGA community has already rendered its verdict: "Without our Pig Factory, who would even know about Balatro!"