Solo dev behind roguelike hit Balatro expected to sell "maybe 10 copies" and go back to their IT job - but they went on to sell one million copies instead

Balatro, the poker-themed twist on the roguelike deckbuilder that's become one of 2024's many unexpected indie sensations, has sold one million copies. But its solo developer thought he'd be lucky to shift a tiny fraction of that figure, and was expecting to go back to his previous career.

In a recent tweet, developer Localthunk said that "one year ago I was preparing to publish my weird little game on Steam and look for an IT job again." That 'weird little game' was Balatro, and next month will mark a year since Localthunk published its Steam page. From that point on, they say they were "expecting to sell maybe 10 copies."

Clearly, that ended up not quite being the case. Balatro released towards the end of February, and just ten days later had hit the 500,000 sales mark. Less than a month after launch, it had hit the one million mark, and it currently sits at nearly 30,000 'overwhelmingly positive' reviews on Steam.

That's far more than Localthunk thought they'd achieve. Their expectation - of a tiny trickle of sales - meant that they were preparing to "look for an IT job again" after the game shipped. Now, however, that's not the case. After what they describe as "a crazy year," they say they're "so grateful I get to do what I love as a career now."

This kind of situation doesn't come along all that often, but when it does it's hugely gratifying to see - Localthunk will have given cuts of their Balatro revenue to digital storefronts like Steam, and publisher Playstack, but even a small slice of the profit from those million sales is likely to add up to an awful lot of money. Of course, for every runaway success story there are plenty of devs who aren't as fortunate as this, but every so often, a Balatro or a Manor Lords comes along to grant their creator almost overnight success.

After selling 1 million copies, Balatro creator admits it's "held together with hopes and dreams" as game devs rally around the roguelike's beautifully nightmarish code.