Only a very scant 0.1 percent of players have managed to platinum Indie hit Balatro, and PlayStation architect Mark Cerny is one of them.
Cerny – who was most recently the lead system architect for PS5 Pro, but has been involved with development of many other PlayStation consoles – shared the flex on social media.
“After seven months and hundreds of hours, proud to join the 0.1% of players that have achieved Platinum on Balatro,” Cerny wrote over the weekend (thanks, Push Square), adding: “Kudos to @LocalThunk for the incredibly deep gameplay.”
LocalThunk is, of course, the rather mysterious solo developer behind Balatro. How mysterious is he? Well, the developer managed to play Balatro at GDC earlier this year without anyone actually clocking who he was.
As for getting the game’s Platinum on PlayStation, Balatro players will need to earn all the other trophies first. Balatro has 32 PlayStation Trophies, which includes accolades such as Shattered which you can earn for breaking two Glass Cards in a single hand and You Get What You Get for winning a run without rerolling the shop. In the words of MetaGame.guide, “it’s a very long and quite difficult Platinum” to obtain.
So, while plenty of us have played, and are still playing, Balatro, that Platinum club remains a rather exclusive one. Nice to have you join us, Mark (I jest, I have absolutely not managed to get the Platinum!).
The poker-themed roguelike has been a huge success since its debut, selling 1m copies in its first month. Balatro went on to scoop up numerous awards, including a BAFTA for best debut game earlier this year.
If that wasn’t enough to cement it as one of the hottest games of the last few years, it also popped up briefly in an episode of Black Mirror.