Balatro is a poker-based roguelike deck builder created by indie developer LocalThunk that made a significant impact on the gaming industry last year. Since its release, the game has quickly become wildly popular, earning widespread acclaim from both players and critics alike. By early October 2024, developer LocalThunk revealed that gamers had collectively spent a staggering 11,000 years playing Balatro across all platforms, with sales exceeding 3.5 million copies just before the holiday season.
Balatro's success also brought the game numerous nominations at The Game Awards 2024, where it won awards for Best Indie, Best Debut Indie, and Best Mobile Game. Balatro strong showing at the awards appears to have further propelled its success, as LocalThunk recently announced that the game has surpassed five million copies sold—an impressive 1.5 million units added in just over a month.
The last few weeks have been pretty wild.
— Balatro (@BalatroGame) January 21, 2025
To everyone who picked up Balatro after seeing it at @thegameawards, we hope you're having an amazing time with it!
If this is your first time picking up an indie title, try to make it a habit!
There's some amazing stuff out there! pic.twitter.com/ZnRpWnJlTW
Achieving five million sales within a year is a remarkable milestone for a solo-developed indie project. In a celebratory tweet, LocalThunk also encouraged fans to explore and support other indie games, highlighting the importance of backing small developers and studios.
Balatro's momentum shows no signs of slowing, with exciting crossovers featuring beloved games like Cult of the Lamb, Among Us, Dave the Diver, and even Cyberpunk 2077. Fans can anticipate even more thrilling collaborations in the future. If you haven’t experienced this incredible game yet, be sure to check out our price comparison tool to grab the best deal on Balatro!
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