„Screencap This and Shame Me if I Ever Violate This Oath.” Stardew Valley Dev Vows Never to Make Players Pay for DLC or Updates
Eric „ConcernedApe” Barone, developer of Stardew Valley and the emerging Haunted Chocolatier, has vowed never to make players pay for DLC or updates.
The developer of Stardew Valley swears "on the honor of his family" that he will never, ever ask for money for DLC or game updates. Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone shared this promise in a post on X. He also suggested that users, in line with online custom, take a screenshot of his statement and, if he were to break his promise, "shame him" with the screenshots.
Truth be told, in this particular case such an oath seems unnecessary. After all, Barone just released an update that was supposed to focus on improvements for modders.
Meanwhile, version 1.6 of Stardew Valley shocked fans with the number of new features. Many people saw the update as more of a significant DLC than a basic patch due to the large number of them. The developer even added more novelties in the subsequent "small" patches.
Barone replied to a comment under the post, in which he assured that he was working hard to release update 1.6 on consoles and mobile devices, but still cannot provide a release date. One of the fans thanked the developer for his dedication and assured that as long as all these add-ons are free, no one will complain about the long wait for the console-mobile release of the update.
Some fans have indeed expressed their willingness to pay for larger content packages, but it seems they have already done so by buying Stardew Valley on multiple devices (cross-platform progression only works on PC and mobile devices). It's a sort of thank you for keeping SV updated for more than eight years, even though Barone has long warned that he's done with the game's development.
