If you've been keeping up with gaming news over the past few months, it's no shock that LocalThunk's innovative blend of solitaire, roguelike, and deck-building, Balatro, has surpassed an impressive five million sales across all platforms. Since its release, Balatro has garnered widespread acclaim from both critics and players, securing multiple prestigious awards, especially on mobile where it has shone brightly.
While it might be tempting to compare these numbers with other titles in terms of sheer downloads and player counts, it's crucial to highlight two important aspects: firstly, Balatro is a solo-developed project, and secondly, all these sales are premium, directly benefiting the developer and publisher, Playstack. This makes the milestone especially significant.
Unfortunately, exact figures for mobile sales remain elusive, but the last clear data we had in December showed 3.5 million sales. This means an additional 1.5 million sales have been achieved since then, underscoring Balatro's strong performance on mobile platforms.
Place your betsWhile it's unfair to solely credit Balatro as the breakthrough for indie games on mobile, given the plethora of other fantastic releases, it's undeniable that Balatro stands as one of the most high-profile successes. Its journey to popularity has been remarkable, and we're eager to see how it performs in the long run with ongoing crossover updates and enhancements.
The question now is whether this success will encourage both the average mobile gamer and industry professionals to further embrace indie games on mobile platforms. We certainly hope so.
If you're interested in our take on Balatro, why not check out our review to see why it earned a stellar five-star rating?
