ConcernedApe Is Finally Done Working On Stardew Valley, For Now

Stardew Valley creator Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone has been working on his next game, Haunted Chocolatier, for quite some time. It was announced all the way back in 2021, yet we’ve seen very little of it since, as Barone has struggled with leaving his other baby behind for too long. In fact, he admitted in December last year that Haunted Chocolatier had been “getting dusty on the shelf” due to how much work he was still doing for Stardew Valley.

However, now that Stardew Valley is in a pretty decent place following the game’s 1.6 update, Barone seems pretty content to leave things alone for now. In an interview with PC Gamer, Barone explained that he is now “committed to not working on Stardew Valley” until Haunted Chocolatier is finally finished.

ConcernedApe Is Finally Done Working On Stardew Valley, For Now

“It’s at that place right now, because the 1.6 update is pretty settled at this point,” says Barone. “There were ongoing console ports and bugs and bug fixes and all that stuff, but it’s pretty settled now, so I’m committed to not working on Stardew Valley until I’m done with Haunted Chocolatier.”

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Of course, he doesn’t shut the door on Stardew Valley completely, as he follows that up by you can only really consider that part of his life over “maybe when I pass away”, but it now sounds like his full focus is on Haunted Chocolatier right now.

While that sounds like a good sign that the game may release fairly soon, that unfortunately isn’t the case. Later on in the interview, Barone admits that he’s still “totally knee-deep in development”, and that the game is “gonna be a while”. He explains that development is slow as he wants to keep things as stress-free as possible, and that his natural worry about Stardew Valley often “pulls me away from devoting all of my time to Haunted Chocolatier”.

Barone does potentially give us a timeframe, though it is a bit of a stretch. He later jokes that he may have to “go into a cabin in the woods, and completely get off the internet” to get the game finished, and says “OK guys, I’ll see you in two years”. It’s most likely a goof on Barone’s part, but I’m now a firm believer that Haunted Chocolatier is coming in 2027.