Update []: If you've been hoping to play Balatro on PC Game Pass, we've got good news for you! It's since been added to the service for PC users as well.

Original Story: It's just been announced at today's Xbox Indie Showcase that none other than Balatro is heading to Xbox Game Pass as a shadow drop! The game will be available imminently for console (unfortunately not PC as of yet) via the service.

If you haven't heard of it, Balatro is a card game that many considered to be a Game of the Year candidate in 2024, and it's known for proving very addictive - so be warned before you go downloading it on Game Pass later today!

Here's a bit of what we said in our Balatro review last year:

"Balatro is an incredibly clever indie gem that uses the bones of regular poker to build an incredibly approachable and fiendishly addictive new experience.

There's a wonderfully slick core to this one, building decks and taking on dealers as you add wild special cards and variables to your pack is trance-inducing stuff and, backed by a fantastically understated soundtrack and perfect visuals, it makes for one of the first proper, actual, absolute must-play games of 2024."

Alongside the Xbox Game Pass release, a series of collaborations have also been revealed for Balatro today as part of the Pack 4 update, with the likes of Bugsnax, Assassin's Creed and even Fallout getting involved in the fun.

Balatro was far from the only Game Pass reveal at the Xbox Indie Showcase today as well, with a massive number of other titles getting announced for later in 2025. We've covered those elsewhere on Pure Xbox if you're interested:

Excited to check out Balatro on Xbox Game Pass? Let us know down in the comments below.