Balatro sales hit 500,000 just ten days after release
Publisher Playstack announced that Balatro has surpassed 500,000 sales in just ten days since the indie title was released for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch. A roguelike deck-building game inspired by poker, Balatro has become an overnight hit thanks to its engaging and satisfying gameplay loop – which does not, in fact, require you to know a whole lot about poker aside from the basic hands.
It’s a remarkable success story, especially as Balatro was developed by a single person over the last two-and-a-half years. Propelled forward by much word-of-mouth publicity, the title managed to generate a revenue of over $1 million USD within eight hours of being launched, crossing the milestone of 250,000 sales just three days after release day – and as we know now, Balatro was able to double that number after another week.
This is despite the fact that a sudden PEGI rating change made the game unavailable to buy in some regions due to its depiction of gambling imagery – it changed from an initial 3+ rating to a 18+ rating.
In Balatro, players are tasked with achieving as high a score as possible with the cards on their hand by adding different joker cards to it throughout the run, which provide various multipliers. It includes so-called Boss Blinds, which provide unique challenges to the player and act as a boss ahead of the next level.
Developer LocalThunk was inspired by poker and Big Two, a Cantonese card game, and didn’t really play any other roguelike video games ahead of creating Balatro – the only exception being Slay the Spire, which the developer played to study its control scheme.
In times of mass layoffs and uninspiring quadruple-A budget monsters, Balatro is a reminder that a fresh idea with a great execution can win the hearts and minds of many, even if it was made by one person alone.
