If you've been keeping up with gaming news over the past few months, you won't be surprised to hear that LocalThunk's innovative blend of solitaire, roguelike, and deck-building, Balatro, has now surpassed five million sales across all platforms. Since its launch, Balatro has garnered widespread acclaim from both critics and players, earning numerous prestigious awards, including several from our own platform for its mobile version.

While it might be tempting to compare Balatro's sales figures to those of other games in terms of downloads and player base, it's important to consider two significant factors: firstly, Balatro is a solo-developed project, and secondly, these are all premium sales for the developer and publisher Playstack. This achievement is particularly noteworthy given these circumstances.

Unfortunately, we don't have precise numbers on how many of these sales were made on mobile. However, the last reported figure in December was 3.5 million, meaning an impressive additional 1.5 million sales have been recorded since then on the mobile platform.

Place your bets
I believe it would be unfair to label Balatro as the sole indie breakthrough on mobile, given the numerous other excellent releases on the platform. However, it's safe to say that Balatro stands out as one of the most high-profile successes, especially considering the journey it has taken to achieve such popularity. We're still eager to see how Balatro performs in the long run, particularly as it continues to receive crossover updates and further enhancements.

The question now is whether this success will boost confidence among both average mobile players and industry professionals to push more indie games to mobile platforms. We certainly hope so.

If you're interested in our take on Balatro, feel free to check out our review and discover why it earned a stellar five-star rating.