Stardew Valley Creator Says He Could Work On The Game For The Rest Of His Life

There are only a handful of indie titles out there that are as fleshed out and handled with passion as Stardew Valley. Being a fan of the game for years on end, I can personally vouch for the sheer effort that Eric Barone — the solo creator of the project — puts into the farming-based title. And in a recent interview with Nintendo Life during PAX West, the dev says that he can keep going at it forever. 

When asked about why he keeps coming back to Stardew Valley years later even after the game has rolled over north of 30 million copies, Eric replied with confidence, expressing his love for the title. 

I feel like I want to keep it alive, keep it fresh, delight the fans, because it’s just fun to engage with that. It’s a rare opportunity I have that there’s so many people who love this game and will play whatever update I make.”

He continues, “And what I love to do is create things and then share them with people and give people experiences. And Stardew is such a good platform for that because it is very popular and it’s still really active.”

“So it’s kind of hard. I don’t want to see it fizzle out, I want to keep it alive, but then I also want to make a new game.”

In other related news, Eric also cleared his stance earlier on charging money for DLC, saying that he “swears on his family’s honor” never to charge for any forthcoming updates. 

Eric Barone’s Next Game Is Haunted Chocolatier

While not out yet, Haunted Chocolatier is ConcernedApe’s next title, as work continues on the project alongside Stardew Valley. The title has no set release date at the moment, but is expected to make landfall sometime in 2016.

Stardew Valley came out on February 26, 2016, for PC, PS4, and Xbox One. eXputer reviewed the title, rating it 4.5/5.0, with author Moiz Banoori remarking, 

Even in 2024, Stardew Valley is a universally beloved and utterly timeless farming sim that can provide hundreds of hours of entertainment.”