It’s hard not to love Stardew Valley, Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone’s take on the farming/RPG genre that Harvest Moon popularized. That’s especially if you consider the long and arduous development process that Barone faced. However, after many years working with publisher Chucklefish, Barone has announced that he will be self-publishing Stardew Valley starting on December 14th.
In a recent post on the game’s official website, Barone noted that he would only be self-publishing the game on PC, Xbox One, PS4, and PlayStation Vita. Chucklefish will continue acting as publisher for the Nintendo Switch and mobile versions. “When I first released Stardew Valley, I was a complete novice to the video game industry,” said Barone.
“Chucklefish, as my publisher, oversaw the distribution, console ports and translations of the game. They set up the official wiki and helped me redesign the website, to great effect. And of course, Tom Coxon did amazing work adding network code to the game, making multiplayer a reality. But I’m at a point now where I’m ready to move forward on my own. I think self-publishing is the end-goal of most indie developers, and I’m happy to be in a place where that’s possible!”
Barone also said to expect more announcements concerning “the future of Stardew Valley” soon. In its own statement, publisher Chucklefish said, “We are proud to be part of the Stardew Valley story and wish ConcernedApe every success with his new self-publishing venture. We will carry on working closely together and are particularly excited to be continuing to publish the versions of Stardew Valley for Nintendo Switch and Mobile, including the upcoming Switch Multiplayer update (in submission now) and new Android version which we know many of you are looking forward to!”
Stardew Valley recently released for iOS (though its Android version is still currently without a release date). In three weeks, the mobile version grossed $1 million in revenue, according to a report from Sensor Tower.
