Balatro shuffles onto Xbox Game Pass with a surprise launch, bringing 2024's best indie game to the service

Subscribers to Xbox Game Pass — Microsoft's all-you-can-eat gaming service that gives its members access to hundreds of games in exchange for a monthly fee — will be happy to hear that one of 2024's best and most popular games is now available to play on it.

That game is Balatro, an award-winning indie from solo developer LocalThunk that instantly took the gaming community by storm when it launched last February. The roguelike deck builder is essentially poker on steroids, with real hands from the classic card game spiced up and supercharged by wild Joker cards, impactful modifiers, and other influences that can swing the outcome of a run in unexpected ways.

Balatro is so ridiculously addicting that it's hard not to get sucked in for hours and hours once you sit down to play it, and it's not uncommon to hear its fans talk about losing entire days to its charms or staying up until the early hours of the morning after repeatedly telling themselves they'll play for just a bit longer. Indeed, few games exude that magical "just one more run" roguelike energy quite like Balatro does.

• DEAL: Xbox Game Pass Ultimate 3-month pre-paid cards (US) are just $30.39 at CDKeys, giving you three months for the price of one and a half even after the recent price increase to $19.99/month

Microsoft revealed the news that Balatro has come to Xbox Game Pass early on Monday afternoon, making the announcement on the official Xbox Game Pass X (Twitter) account with a short trailer. Earlier that morning, the firm teased it with a cheeky image showing a hand of cards and a short "pick a card" caption.

"Hope you picked the center card because SURPRISE BALATRO IS AVAILABLE TODAY," it wrote in the follow-up to the first post. Notably, players are reporting that Game Pass availability for Balatro isn't showing on the Xbox marketplace yet, but it shouldn't be long before Microsoft's rolls out an update to its storefront so that Game Pass subscribers are able to download the game (Edit: looks like you should be good to go).

Using Game Pass is undoubtedly a great way to jump into Balatro and see what the hype is all about, but you can always play by directly purchasing it, too. The game is available on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows PC, macOS, PS5, and PS4 for $14.99, and you can also play on mobile via Xbox Cloud Gaming (with Game Pass Ultimate), the iOS App Store, or the Google Play Store if you feel like absolutely obliterating your productivity (it's $9.99 on mobile).

Something to keep in mind is that the Steam version is just $10.09 at CDKeys right now thanks to a deal, so that's one of the cheapest ways to get your hands on it permanently at present.

Analysis: A colossal Game Pass addition for Xbox

It's no exaggeration to say that Balatro was one of 2024's most successful and attention-grabbing indie games, with its big release and subsequent updates attracting droves of players to its clever roguelike mechanics. It may be a year old, now, but it's not slowing down; in fact, the game hit a new all-time concurrent player count peak of 43,905 on Steam just last month according to SteamDB data, and its release on mobile in September has made it more accessible than ever.

This release on Xbox Game Pass gives fans another avenue to enjoy Balatro with, and is a colossal win for Microsoft and Xbox overall. LocalThunk's hit was nominated for Game of the Year, won four awards at The Game Awards 2024, and is undeniably one of the best indie games made in recent years; even though it's not pricey to buy directly, Balatro and acclaimed titles like it make signing up to Game Pass an attractive idea.

Undoubtedly, this is also a massive boon for LocalThunk and their publishing partner Playstack. Balatro's popularity has already been a life-changer for its solo developer, after all, and partnering with Microsoft to bring the game to Game Pass is sure to bring plenty of additional success.

Balatro | $14.99 $10.09 at CDKeys (PC, Steam)

The award-winning roguelike deck builder that took the gaming world by storm in 2024 has now come to Xbox Game Pass, but if you'd still prefer to buy it directly, don't miss this deal on the PC version. It gives you close to a full $5 discount on the GOTY-nominated indie, which is nearly a 33% markdown.