Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone has now taken over Stardew Valley mobile publishing, concluding his multiplatform publishing deal with Chucklefish.
Stardew Valley is one of the biggest farming RPGs in the world and arguably the game that kicked off a revival of the genre over the last several years. Aside from the 1.5 update in late 2020, not much has been going on with the game -- that probably has something to do with its developer working on a new game called Haunted Chocolatier.
Although Eric Barone effectively developed the game solo, he had turned to Chucklefish to assist with publishing duties around the time of launch. He later took over publishing duties for the PC version in late 2018 and the Nintendo Switch version a year after that. Now, Chucklefish has handed over Stardew Valley mobile publishing duties to ConcernedApe, bringing an end to their developer-publisher relationship.
Chucklefish Thanks ConcernedApe As It Hands Over Stardew Valley Mobile Publishing Duties
Chuicklefish announced the transfer of Stardew Valley mobile publishing earlier today in a blog post (via Reddit) where it detailed its history with Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone and what has happened to the game over the last 8 years.
"It was 2014 when we first discovered Stardew Valley," read the blog post. "Chucklefish’s director Finn found an early version of the game on Steam Greenlight, and reached out to Eric to discuss how we could help support it. Our team fell in love with the game instantly, but even when we agreed to work together in 2015, none of us knew just how big the game would become!"
"Stardew Valley has come a long way since we first saw the early version, but even back then everyone on our team was hooked by the gameplay and were incredibly excited to work on the project. When Eric shared a [near-final] build, we spent hours playing the game, and knew instantly it was something special. There were a few people in the office who played enough to declare it was their favourite game ever – even before it was released."
Over the years, Chucklefish assisted with the implementation of new languages, the creation of the wiki, multiplayer functionality, the multiplatform releases, and the physical releases and merch for the game.
With this announcement, ConcernedApe is now 100% in control of the publishing rights for Stardew Valley. You can buy Stardew Valley for PC, consoles, and mobile devices via its official website at prices ranging from $4.99-$14.99 or your regional equivalent. Or, I suppose, you could always get it for free by buying a Tesla.