Stardew Valley is one of the most successful indie games of all time and, as of December of this year, has sold over 41 million copies.
This is a big change for developer ConcernedApe, who has worked on the game primarily alone. He's hired people here and there and gotten help moving it to other platforms, but as of March 2024, his net worth is estimated at 45 million dollars.
According to the Stardew Valley official website26 million copies of the game have been sold on PC and 7.9 million on Nintendo Switch. The game is also available on PS5, Xbox Series X, and mobile devices, so you can play anywhere. I have it myself on PC and Switch, but I prefer the ease of use of the PC version.
Stardew Valley remains popular to this day because it continues to receive updates. 1.6 is the latest and ours. Heather Wald writes “has brought a sense of excitement and discovery to Pelican Town, and I'm getting lost in it again.”
ConcernedApe, whose real name is Eric Barone, has another game in development, Haunted Chocolatier, which is currently “putting dust on the shelf.” But he says: “Stardew Valley is a big and popular game, and I'm very attached to it. I also feel a strong sense of duty and obligation to all the people who have purchased Stardew Valley over the years, giving me this rare opportunity to be an independent game developer. So it's hard to 'let go' of Stardew, even temporarily, to work on something that's not yet established and has no meaning to people.” Their commitment is being well rewarded, clearly.
He's also been “in a trance” playing Balatro, like all of us, so that probably hasn't helped his productivity.
If you're looking for new ways to play, check out the best Stardew Valley mods that you can use to spice up the game.