Back in 2019, the Stardew Valley creator Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone announced he would self-publish in the future after the game’s publisher Chucklefish was accused of exploiting contributing workers during its development of Starbound.
Now, in a new blog post update from Chucklefish, it seems Stardew is entirely in control of Eric Barone – with the publisher announcing it has handed over responsibility for Stardew mobile, which was the “final platform” the company was acting as the publisher for.
“We originally entered into our agreement with Eric for a two-year term – with a plan of transitioning publishing duties and responsibilities after release. Today we handed over responsibility for Stardew mobile, which was the final platform we were acting as publisher for – now ConcernedApe is set up to self-publish for all platforms!”
It also used this opportunity to thank ConcernedApe for “trusting” the team to help grow the Stardew Valley experience into what it is today.
“We loved and still love every minute of the experience. Our small team worked hard and we are so proud of our joint achievements with ConcernedApe: New Languages, Development of the wiki, Multiplayer, Console releases, Physical releases & merchandise, Mobile version… We wish the team at ConcernedApe all the best, and as fans ourselves we’re looking forward to your next project!”
ConcernedApe mentioned earlier this year how there were currently “no plans” for more Stardew Valley updates, but wouldn’t necessarily rule them out. Right now, he’s focused on his next project – the Haunted Chocolatier
Are you looking forward to ConcernedApe’s next game? Would you like to see more updates for Stardew Valley? Post a comment down below.