Balatro is one of the many successful indie games we have already seen this year. The poker deck-building roguelike, made by solo dev LocalThunk, exceeded expectations and became profitable almost immediately after launch.
As publisher PlayStack told GamesIndustry.biz, Balatro surpassed $1 million in gross revenue just eight hours after launching on February 20.
Its production budget remains undisclosed, as do the financial terms of LocalThunk’s partnership with PlayStack, but the publisher’s CEO Harvey Elliott noted that the game “reached game-profitability within an hour following release.”
“I poured my heart and soul into this game with the hopes of sharing it with a few friends and loved ones, but seeing so many people share and enjoy this odd creation has been incredibly overwhelming,” the developer said. “I can’t thank the Balatro fans and Playstack enough for making this possible.”
On February 23, LocalThunk announced that Balatro sold over 250k copies in 72 hours on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch.
According to PlayStack, it is now the fastest-selling game in its portfolio, which includes titles like Mortal Shell, The Case of the Golden Idol, and The Entropy Centre.
Balatro has sold over 250,000 copies in 72 hours across all platforms! 🎉
We cannot begin to show enough appreciation for the support you’ve shown this game.
THANK YOU! pic.twitter.com/BfFlChlYaX
— Balatro (@BalatroGame) February 23, 2024
Upon its launch on Steam, Balatro peaked at over 23k concurrent players. Its CCU count then increased to 35,018 over the weekend, making it the 11th biggest launch of 2024 by that metric. The game currently sits between Persona 3 Reload (45k CCU) and indie survival adventure title Pacific Drive (18.5k CCU).
Balatro also made a strong debut on the Steam charts, becoming the 8th highest-grossing premium title for the week of February 20-27. When including free-to-play games and Steam Deck, LocalThunk’s roguelike ranked 12th in gross revenue.