While Balatro is one of the biggest indie hits of 2024, solo developer LocalThunk didn’t expect the game to become such a huge success.
In a comment on X, LocalThunk noted that he would have been happy if only four of his friends and his parents bought Balatro. So he didn’t see such an overwhelming reaction coming, saying that “the entire past year has been a series of crazy events” (thanks, GamesRadar+).
Earlier this month, the developer said a few more words about his modest expectations for the game prior to its launch. “My actual production Balatro project folder is called ‘CardGame’ and is still in my ‘Learning’ directory,” LocalThunk wrote.
Speaking of “crazy events,” Balatro turned profitable within just an hour of its release on February 20. The poker roguelike sold 1 million copies in less than a month, with LocalThunk saying that he was “overjoyed that so many people have been able to have fun with my silly creation.” In August, the game crossed the 2 million milestone.
I was expecting like 4 of my friends and my parents to buy the game and that would have been awesome, so no the entire past year has been a series of crazy events
— localthunk (@LocalThunk) October 24, 2024
Balatro currently has an “Overwhelmingly Positive” (97%) rating on Steam based on more than 44k reviews. In addition to PC and console versions, Local thunk and publisher Playstack launched a mobile port last month, which has already generated over $1.9 million in net revenue (via AppMagic).
The developer also released two free packs featuring crossovers with various popular games, including The Witcher 3, Vampire Survivors, The Binding of Isaac, Slay the Spire, Stardew Valley, Among Us, and Dave the Diver.