Balatro’s Twitch & YouTube popularity surges after 2024 GOTY nominations

Balatro’s popularity has surged on Twitch, Kick, and YouTube yet again, largely thanks to the roguelike deck builder being nominated for Game of The Year.

Released back in February 2024, Balatro has taken over the internet with fans constantly posting their massive scores and various photos of the game’s joker mascot – Jimbo.

Balatro sold millions of copies in the first few weeks after its release and found its way into the GOTY nominees for just about every award show at the end of 2024. Although the single-developer title didn’t win the title at The Game Awards, it still brought home three other awards including Best Debut Indie, Best Indie, and Best Mobile Game.

Awards aren’t the only thing Balatro has won recently, either, as the game’s popularity has skyrocketed yet again with fans watching millions of hours worth of streams across every platform

Balatro’s Twitch popularity surges after 2024 GOTY nominations

Just weeks ahead of the December 12, 2024 event, The Game Awards revealed its nominees for Game of the Year on November 18. Alongside this nomination came a slew of Twitch, Kick, and YouTube viewers wanting to check out the game, and Stream Hatchet says its viewership nearly tripled to 2.4M hours watched in December.

January saw more interest in the deck builder as it rocketed to 2.8M hours watched with the help of some of the biggest names on Twitch.

StreamHatchet

Alongside the growth in viewers were some of Twitch’s biggest names, but the list is topped by one smaller streamer known for broadcasting nothing but Balatro.

With just 72,000 followers on Twitch, Roffle managed to contribute over 300,000 watch hours between November 2024 and January 2025, with the likes of Pirate Software, LosPollosTV, and Emiru on the list of most-watched Balatro streamers as well.

While it didn’t win Game of the Year at The Game Awards, Balatro still brought home a GOTY title thanks to the Indie Game Awards on December 19.