Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone, well known for incredibly popular farming sim game Stardew Valley, revealed that he might eventually make a sequel to the title. In an interview with TigerBelly, Barone mentioned that, with all of the content that he has worked to add into Stardew Valley, adding on to the original game feels like it would be a lot easier than making a fresh game from scratch.
“It’s all the systems — all the major systems — are already all done,” said Barone. “That’s the stuff that’s not fun to do. When I make an update [for Stardew Valley now], it’s like, you know, oh, throw in this, throw in that. Let’s add green rain — like, these random, whimsical ideas.”
“I might eventually make a Stardew Valley 2, to be honest,” he continued.
It is worth noting that, while Barone is also currently working on another game – Haunted Chocolatier – he has maintained that he will continue to add more content to Stardew Valley. In an interview from back in January, Barone even spoke about wanting to add things to the game even 50 years later.
“I do take in a lot of what the fans are saying,” said Barone in January. “I pay attention to what their thoughts are, what their criticisms are. And the players are very important to me. I mean, I will never forget that it’s because of the players that I’m in this position, that the game was able to be popular, that my dreams as a game developer have come true.”
Barone also spoke about the idea that a game could potentially have “too much content”. He did say that, if he were to ever start feeling overwhelmed with all of the things he plans on adding to Stardew Valley, he will ultimately stop further development. “Another thing is, I do want to make more than one game in my life. Including the development time, I’ve been working on Stardew Valley for over 12 years now,” he said.
However, he still hasn’t shown any signs of stopping work on Stardew Valley. He went as far as to even joke about releasing a fresh update for the game when he is 90 years old. “I don’t want to definitively say that the book is ever closed, because I think I will always have a desire to come back and maybe add a thing or two. You know, maybe even 50 years from now, I might add something.”
“I like creating things. I don’t think I’m ever going to retire. I think it would be funny to release an update when I’m, like, 90 years old — if I live that long. Let’s hope.”
Stardew Valley was originally released all the way back in 2016. As the title has crept up to its tenth anniversary, it has ultimately been released on just about every gaming platform out there. As of January this year, Barone had confirmed that more than 41 million copies had been sold so far.
When it comes to his other title, Barone had mentioned in the past that he was “taking a break” from the development of Haunted Chocolatier. However, he hasn’t revealed any more details about the title since then aside from saying that work on the game would resume after a major update for Stardew Valley had been completed.