By Sagar V. Mankar 
The indie poker roguelike Balatro is enjoying a second wave of popularity, drawing significant attention and attracting thousands of new players on Steam this holiday season. Despite being a single-player title with no major content updates or DLCs, the game continues to break records and engage a growing audience.
According to data from SteamDB, Balatro hit a new peak of 40,623 concurrent players on the weekend ending December 29. This milestone surpasses the previous record of 37,900 concurrent players set on March 10, just three weeks after its initial launch.
The player base experienced a significant decline between June and mid-November, with numbers hovering between 6,000 and 8,000 active players. However, interest began to climb again after the game received a nomination for Game of the Year at The Game Awards on November 19. The nomination alone caused a spike, pushing player numbers past 10,000 the following day.
While Balatro didn’t secure the Game of the Year award, the event itself sparked further interest. On December 14, after the conclusion of The Game Awards ceremony in Los Angeles, player numbers doubled to 20,000. The momentum continued when popular YouTuber Markiplier, who has over 37 million subscribers, streamed the game on December 23. His video garnered over 2.5 million views, driving player numbers up to an impressive 30,000. As the holidays progressed, Balatro continued to gain traction, culminating in its current peak of over 40,000 concurrent players.
In a statement, developer LocalThunk referred to the recent uptick as a result of a “crazy December.” Several key factors contributed to Balatro’s resurgence:
- The Game Awards Nominations and Wins: Although Balatro didn’t win Game of the Year, it walked away with three accolades: Best Independent Game, Best Debut Indie Game, and Best Mobile Game.
- Seasonal Discounts: The game received a 15% discount during the Autumn Sale, followed by a 10% discount during the ongoing Winter Sale.
- Influencer Support: Markiplier’s gameplay video significantly boosted visibility and interest in the game.
- Holiday Season Sales: The festive season encouraged more purchases and engagement from players worldwide.
Balatro currently boasts an “Overwhelmingly Positive” rating on Steam, with an impressive 96.75% approval rate from over 105k user reviews. Remarkably, over 33,000 of these reviews were posted in the last month alone, reflecting the game’s surging popularity.
This achievement solidifies Balatro as the highest-rated game release of 2024 on Steam, surpassing other anticipated titles like Black Myth: Wukong, Satisfactory, TCG Card Shop Simulator, and Tiny Glade.
Adding to its list of accomplishments, Balatro was also honored with the Game of the Year title at The Indie Game Awards 2024. During his acceptance speech, LocalThunk highlighted the unique strengths of indie game development, stating, “Our games are able to take big design and aesthetic risks in a way that AAA cannot, and I believe 2024 was truly a banner year for independent games.”
Sources: SteamDB, The Game Awards, YouTube (Markiplier)