Stardew Valley Creator Discusses Console Multiplayer Release, Cross-Play

A venerable force in its own right, ConcernedApe’s Stardew Valley recently received multiplayer, allowing friends to get together, manage farms and even build houses on the same farm to effectively live together. The feature has been a long time coming, but also accompanied numerous new items and features for the base game.

However, multiplayer is currently only available for PC. Offering an update on Twitter, creator Eric Barone said that there’s currently no set date for when it might be added to other versions of the game.

Also, if you’re wondering when you’ll be able to play with friends on other platforms, that day may be a lot farther off. Barone confirmed as much, and stated that the technical barriers for implementing cross-play “are very high”. “It’s still something I really want to add and I promise to look into it more closely,” he wrote, “but first priority is getting the update out there.”

It should be noted that Barone is essentially a one-man army working on Stardew Valley, even as publisher Chucklefish has been providing assistance for the multiplayer launch. At this point, we have to wait and see how this progresses, but given Barone’s urge for perfection, the console update should be in tip-top shape when it does arrive.

I know many are wondering when the multiplayer update for consoles will come out. The truth is, I don't have a set release date yet. I don't want to make any vague promises, so all I can say is that it's in development, and I will let you know the release date as soon as possible

— ConcernedApe (@ConcernedApe) September 4, 2018

Unfortunately, there will not be crossplay. Apparently, the technical barriers are very high. It's still something I really want to add and I promise to look into it more closely, but first priority is getting the update out there

— ConcernedApe (@ConcernedApe) September 4, 2018