{"id":1047619,"date":"2026-01-18T01:07:44","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T01:07:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/?p=486246"},"modified":"2026-01-18T01:07:44","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T01:07:44","slug":"balatro-scored-big-game-awards-nominations-then-sales-spiked","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/balatro-scored-big-game-awards-nominations-then-sales-spiked\/","title":{"rendered":"Balatro scored big Game Awards nominations, then sales spiked"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mobile sales data indicates Balatro<\/a><\/em> enjoyed a noteworthy surge of players thanks to picking up five nominations<\/a> at The Game Awards, PocketGamer.biz reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Balatro<\/em>, an addictive, poker-themed roguelike, landed on iOS and Android devices on Sep. 26 and made nearly $1 million in its first week<\/a>, according to AppMagic estimates, matching the breakout success<\/a> of the PC debut earlier this year. Revenue naturally dropped off due to developer LocalThunk avoiding the \u201cpredatory monetization<\/a>\u201d common in mobile games, only to soar once again and make $727,000 in a week (surpassing $4 million total) after The Game Awards announced its nominations on Nov. 18, again according to AppMagic estimates.<\/p>\n

Publisher Playstack wasn\u2019t able to comment on sales numbers, but told Polygon via email that Balatro<\/em>\u2019s daily active players are seeing a \u201csignificant spike\u201d since the news broke. \u201cIt\u2019s been lovely to see the conversations happening around the game and we\u2019re honestly just happy to be part of it all!\u201d a rep said.<\/p>\n

Balatro<\/em> is in contention for Game of the Year at The Game Awards \u2014 facing off against Astro Bot<\/a><\/em>, Black Myth: Wukong<\/a><\/em>, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree<\/a><\/em>, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth<\/a><\/em>, and Metaphor: ReFantazaio<\/a><\/em>. It\u2019s also up for Best Game Direction, Best Mobile Game, Best Independent Game, and Best Debut Indie.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more time goes on the more I feel like I just happened to stumble into winning the game developer lottery,\u201d LocalThunk told Polygon when the nominations were revealed<\/a>. \u201cI\u2019d like to think the game has appeal but I feel that appeal pales in comparison to the incredible other nominees.\u201d <\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mobile sales data indicates Balatro enjoyed a noteworthy surge of players thanks to picking up five nominations at The Game Awards, PocketGamer.biz reports. Balatro, an addictive, poker-themed roguelike, landed on iOS and Android devices on Sep. 26 and made nearly $1 million in its first week, according to AppMagic estimates, matching the breakout success of the PC debut earlier this year. Revenue naturally dropped off due to developer LocalThunk avoiding the \u201cpredatory monetization\u201d common in mobile games, only to soar once again and make $727,000 in a week (surpassing $4 million total) after The Game Awards announced its nominations on Nov. 18, again according to AppMagic estimates. Publisher Playstack wasn\u2019t able to comment on sales numbers, but told Polygon via email that Balatro\u2019s daily active…<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1047620,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1047619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-polygon"],"yoast_head":"\nBalatro scored big Game Awards nominations, then sales spiked | Arcader News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Mobile sales data indicates Balatro enjoyed a noteworthy surge of players thanks to picking up five nominations at The Game Awards, PocketGamer.biz\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/balatro-scored-big-game-awards-nominations-then-sales-spiked\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Balatro scored big Game Awards nominations, then sales spiked | Arcader News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mobile sales data indicates Balatro enjoyed a noteworthy surge of players thanks to picking up five nominations at The Game Awards, PocketGamer.biz\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/balatro-scored-big-game-awards-nominations-then-sales-spiked\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-18T01:07:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/cropped-arcader-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"320\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/balatro-scored-big-game-awards-nominations-then-sales-spiked\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/balatro-scored-big-game-awards-nominations-then-sales-spiked\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\"},\"headline\":\"Balatro scored big Game Awards nominations, then sales spiked\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-18T01:07:44+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/balatro-scored-big-game-awards-nominations-then-sales-spiked\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":272,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/balatro-scored-big-game-awards-nominations-then-sales-spiked\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/balatro-scored-big-game-awards-nominations-then-sales-spiked.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Polygon\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/balatro-scored-big-game-awards-nominations-then-sales-spiked\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/balatro-scored-big-game-awards-nominations-then-sales-spiked\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/balatro-scored-big-game-awards-nominations-then-sales-spiked\\\/\",\"name\":\"Balatro scored big Game Awards nominations, then sales spiked | Arcader News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/balatro-scored-big-game-awards-nominations-then-sales-spiked\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/balatro-scored-big-game-awards-nominations-then-sales-spiked\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/balatro-scored-big-game-awards-nominations-then-sales-spiked.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-18T01:07:44+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\"},\"description\":\"Mobile sales data indicates Balatro enjoyed a noteworthy surge of players thanks to picking up five nominations at The Game Awards, PocketGamer.biz\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/balatro-scored-big-game-awards-nominations-then-sales-spiked\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/balatro-scored-big-game-awards-nominations-then-sales-spiked\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/balatro-scored-big-game-awards-nominations-then-sales-spiked\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/balatro-scored-big-game-awards-nominations-then-sales-spiked.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/balatro-scored-big-game-awards-nominations-then-sales-spiked.png\",\"caption\":\"Balatro scored big Game Awards nominations, then sales spiked\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/balatro-scored-big-game-awards-nominations-then-sales-spiked\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Balatro scored big Game Awards nominations, then sales spiked\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"description\":\"Free Arcade News from the Best Online Sources\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\",\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Arcade News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cricketgames.tv\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/author\\\/arcade-news\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Balatro scored big Game Awards nominations, then sales spiked | Arcader News","description":"Mobile sales data indicates Balatro enjoyed a noteworthy surge of players thanks to picking up five nominations at The Game Awards, PocketGamer.biz","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/balatro-scored-big-game-awards-nominations-then-sales-spiked\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Balatro scored big Game Awards nominations, then sales spiked | Arcader News","og_description":"Mobile sales data indicates Balatro enjoyed a noteworthy surge of players thanks to picking up five nominations at The Game Awards, PocketGamer.biz","og_url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/balatro-scored-big-game-awards-nominations-then-sales-spiked\/","og_site_name":"Arcade News","article_published_time":"2026-01-18T01:07:44+00:00","og_image":[{"width":480,"height":320,"url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/cropped-arcader-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Arcade News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Arcade News","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/balatro-scored-big-game-awards-nominations-then-sales-spiked\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/balatro-scored-big-game-awards-nominations-then-sales-spiked\/"},"author":{"name":"Arcade News","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839"},"headline":"Balatro scored big Game Awards nominations, then sales spiked","datePublished":"2026-01-18T01:07:44+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/balatro-scored-big-game-awards-nominations-then-sales-spiked\/"},"wordCount":272,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/balatro-scored-big-game-awards-nominations-then-sales-spiked\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/balatro-scored-big-game-awards-nominations-then-sales-spiked.png","articleSection":["Polygon"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/balatro-scored-big-game-awards-nominations-then-sales-spiked\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/balatro-scored-big-game-awards-nominations-then-sales-spiked\/","url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/balatro-scored-big-game-awards-nominations-then-sales-spiked\/","name":"Balatro scored big Game Awards nominations, then sales spiked | Arcader News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/balatro-scored-big-game-awards-nominations-then-sales-spiked\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/balatro-scored-big-game-awards-nominations-then-sales-spiked\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/balatro-scored-big-game-awards-nominations-then-sales-spiked.png","datePublished":"2026-01-18T01:07:44+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839"},"description":"Mobile sales data indicates Balatro enjoyed a noteworthy surge of players thanks to picking up five nominations at The Game Awards, PocketGamer.biz","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/balatro-scored-big-game-awards-nominations-then-sales-spiked\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/balatro-scored-big-game-awards-nominations-then-sales-spiked\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/balatro-scored-big-game-awards-nominations-then-sales-spiked\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/balatro-scored-big-game-awards-nominations-then-sales-spiked.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/balatro-scored-big-game-awards-nominations-then-sales-spiked.png","caption":"Balatro scored big Game Awards nominations, then sales spiked"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/balatro-scored-big-game-awards-nominations-then-sales-spiked\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Balatro scored big Game Awards nominations, then sales spiked"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/","name":"Arcade News","description":"Free Arcade News from the Best Online Sources","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839","name":"Arcade News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Arcade News"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/cricketgames.tv"],"url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/author\/arcade-news\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1047619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1047619"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1047619\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1465939,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1047619\/revisions\/1465939"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1047620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1047619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1047619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1047619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}