Smash Hit Poker Roguelike Balatro Crosses Half a Million Sales

Indie roguelike Balatro, which combines poker with deckbuilding and "outrageous combos", has reached a big sales milestone in under two weeks.


Published: March 6, 2024 9:34 AM /

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A range of Joker cards in the poker roguelike Balatro

Indie poker-themed roguelike Balatro has crossed a major sales milestone within its first two weeks on sale, publisher Playstack has revealed.

In a post on X (formerly known as Twitter), Playstack announced earlier today that Balatro has sold 500,000 copies in just ten days, which is pretty impressive.

That figure applies across all platforms on which Balatro is available, so it's taking into account PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch, as well as macOS, where the game launched last week.

A game of the poker-based card roguelike Balatro in progress
Balatro's unique spin on poker has proven pretty popular.

Since launching on February 20th, Balatro has garnered a rare Overwhemingly Positive rating on Steam, with 97% of its 13,422 reviews (at time of writing) skewing positive.

In the last 24 hours, the game has attracted over 30,000 players, with more than 28,000 still playing at time of writing.

That may not quite compete with the likes of third-person shooter Helldivers 2 or survival-crafting adventure Palworld, but given how niche Balatro looks on first glance, it's no mean feat.

We'll have to wait and see whether Balatro manages to reach the coveted million-player mark, but given the rate at which it's moving right now, that looks pretty much certain.

A view of a player looking at their deck in Balatro
Have you checked out Balatro yet?

If you're yet to try Balatro, it's a poker-themed roguelike in which, according to the delightfully-named developer LocalThunk, you'll "play illegal poker hands, discover game-changing jokers, and trigger adrenaline-pumping, outrageous combos".

The game mixes traditional poker hands with unique Jokers that create synergies across decks. There are more than 150 Jokers in the game, each of which has a unique ability for you to discover.

Balatro also features a campaign mode that allows you to choose between eight difficulty levels, as well as challenge modes, daily runs, and seeded runs. It's the ideal roguelike to try if you're a fan of games like Slay the Spire.

You can check out Balatro right now on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch. Watch this space for more Balatro news.

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