Smash Hit Indie Roguelike Balatro Has Sold Half a Million Copies in 10 Days | Push Square

07.03.2024 - 00:15 / pushsquare.com

The wonderful Balatro's rise to stardom has been fascinating to see. Relatively obscure until close to launch, the indie, poker-based roguelike quickly ballooned in popularity, becoming publisher Playstack's fastest-selling title in just a few days. Now, 10 days after release on PC and consoles, the game has reached a new milestone of 500,000 copies sold.

Playstack made the announcement earlier today on social media:

The game was developed almost entirely by one person, who goes by LocalThunk. In addition to the sales success, Balatro has enjoyed overwhelmingly positive critical acclaim — including two 9/10 assessments from Push Square and Pure Xbox, and a whopping 10/10 from Nintendo Life. It's safe to say we're all riding the Balatro train here at Hookshot.

The game has hit the half a million mark in spite of recent upheaval surrounding a change in its European age classification. The incident caused it to be removed from certain console marketplaces, where it's yet to make a return, but it should be back on sale fairly soon.

If you're curious to see what all the fuss is about, Balatro is currently part of PS Plus Premium's Game Trial scheme. Members can download and play the game for one full hour at no extra cost.

Stephen has been part of the Push Square team for over six years, bringing boundless enthusiasm and a deep knowledge of video games to his role as Assistant Editor. Having grown up playing every PlayStation console to date, he's developed an eclectic taste, with particular passion for indie games, arcade racers, and puzzlers. He's also our go-to guy for Sonic-related matters, much to his delight/chagrin.

Congrats! Been playing this since yesterday and it's good fun. I'm hoping for more content etc much like vampire saviours, and to be honest this game is very much like VS...

I'm very excited to play this after rebirth. Will probably be bouncing between this and HiFi Rush for quite a while.

@Blofse wow, mate, Balatro is entirely different from VS and has much more content even now in terms of deck building and strategies.

One of the most addictive and enjoyable games I've played in years.

Pulled an all-nighter on it the evening I bought it and so many hours since.

It's one of those games that, even if you aren't great at (me, at the moment), isn't any less enjoyable.

I really want to give this a shot. I watched a video of a guy playing it and it looks like an enjoyable time.

Great to see this Indie game doing well. I'm definitely picking it up in the future.

It's a great game! I would highly recommend to anyone who likes roguelite card games.

I’ve been playing this game on my portal and I love it. It’s been perfect for the handheld.

@Tomato_Goose on day 1 it didn't have a huge amount and