Stardew Valley is one of the most-successful indie games of all time, and as of December this year, it’s sold over 41 million copies.
That’s a huge chunk of change for developer ConcernedApe, who has worked on the game mostly by himself. He’s contracted people here and there and had help porting it to other platforms, but as of March, 2024, his net worth is estimated at $45 million.
According to the official Stardew Valley website, 26 million copies of the game have been sold on PC and 7.9 million on the Nintendo Switch. The game is also on PS5, Xbox Series X, and mobile, so you can play the game anywhere. I myself have it on PC and Switch, but I prefer the ease of use of the PC version.
My girlfriend has gotten into it in a big way over the holidays, which has delighted her sister who has hundreds of hours in it across PC, mobile, and Switch. This is pretty wild to me as my partner is not a gamer at all, but she’s spent hours each day in it and they’ve managed to complete the community center in under a year on a shared farm. Find out how to play it co-op here and see if you can do it faster than them.
Stardew Valley is still popular to this day because it just keeps getting updates. 1.6 is the latest and our own Heather Wald writes it’s “brought a sense of excitement and discovery back to Pelican Town, and I’m losing myself to it all over again.”
ConcernedApe, real name Eric Barone, has another game in development, Haunted Chocolatier, which is currently “getting dusty on the shelf.” But he says: “Stardew Valley is a big and popular game, and I have a lot of attachment to it. I also feel a strong sense of duty and obligation to all the people who have bought Stardew Valley over the years, granting me this rare opportunity to be an indie game developer. So it’s hard to ‘let go’ of Stardew, even temporarily, to work on something that isn’t already established and meaningful to people.” His commitment is being well rewarded, clearly.
He’s also been “in a trance” playing Balatro, as have we all, so that probably hasn’t helped his productivity.
If you’re looking for new ways to play, check out the best Stardew Valley mods that you can use to spice up the game.