Creator Eric Barone revealed in an interview about the game's development that the fan-favorite indie hit Stardew Valley was almost canceled due to a major oversight. A decade since its release, and Stardew Valley remains one of the most successful indie games ever made, selling over 50 million copies as of February 2026.
Eric Barone, known professionally as ConcernedApe, began development on Stardew Valley in 2012 as a solo project inspired by Marvelous's Harvest Moon. Barone impressively handled every aspect of development himself, including programming, art, music, and design, with the project taking over four years to complete, riddled with numerous setbacks and 70-hour workweeks for years on end. However, Stardew Valley's journey nearly met a catastrophic end at one point, which the solo dev has been happy to share.
Stardew Valley creator Eric Barone revealed that he could support the game for 50 years, but even if not, it will still thrive.
For the ten-year anniversary of Stardew Valley, PC Gamer has resurfaced an interview with Eric Barone, in which the developer went into considerable detail about the game's development and the problems he faced on the road to release. One of Barone's biggest mistakes while working...
