Development of Stardew Valley may actually be done.
Stardew Valley esports’ first esports event, the Stardew Valley Cup, has come and gone and there was an extra bit of intrigue coming from Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone after play ceased. While waiting for the scores to be tallied, viewers were able to participate in something of a Q&A with the Stardew Valley creator and as one would expect, many of those questions probed around what ConcernedApe is working on these days.
The developer finally gave some details about his next game and stated that all developmental effort is being put into that instead of a Stardew Valley 1.6 update or sequel to the game. When fielding questions about relatively minor changes to the game, like adding new marriage candidates, ConcernedApe shut that down and stated that his focus was solely being put into his new game.
“I’m not even saying there’s going to be another Stardew Valley update at this point, you know. Right now, I am focused on my next game,” ConcernedApe said.
Alongside this, ConcernedApe noted that his next game will definitely not be a sequel to Stardew Valley and will not be another farming simulator. Though Stardew Valley has been an absolute smash hit, ConcernedApe has his eyes set on new things.
Stardew Valley is already five years old at this point and the game’s lifespan has to run out eventually. The last significant content update, Stardew Valley 1.5, arrived on consoles just earlier this year. Even if development ceased today, the game has already had a very long, successful run.
What will ConcernedApe’s next game be?
ConcernedApe’s next game will be a 2D pixel art game with a top-down perspective, but it will not be another farming sim or a sequel to Stardew Valley. Beyond that, very little is known.
“What I will say is it’s another kind of pixel art game [with] kind of a top-down perspective similar to Stardew Valley and in some ways it is kind of similar to Stardew Valley but it’s also […] not a farming game, to say that. It’s something different,” ConcernedApe said.
One thing that ConcernedApe was very explicit on was denying that he was helping with the development of Witchbrook. Witchbrook is an in-development sim game that will be themed around a magical school. The style of game and the fact it’s being published through Stardew Valley publisher Chucklefish Games certainly raises an eyebrow but ConcernedApe was vehement that he had nothing to do with the game.
So when will fans get a chance to see something concrete regarding ConcernedApe’s new game? The developer said he may give definite answers “fairly soon.” Until then, fans can continue enjoy the ever-evolving Stardew Valley.
