Stardew Valley Developer Wishes He Hadn’t Revealed His Next Game So Soon

Eric ‘ConcernedApe’ Barone, the solo developer behind Stardew Valley, has expressed some regret about announcing his next project, Haunted Chocolatier, too early.

In a recent update on his blog, Barone acknowledged, “Yep, it’s taking a while to finish the game. I know, I know, I shouldn’t have announced the game so early. But I had my reasons.”

Haunted Chocolatier, a pixel art simulation game centered around managing a haunted candy shop, was first revealed in 2021 after Barone dedicated a decade to Stardew Valley. Now, five years later, the game is still under development with no release date in sight. This isn’t surprising, considering Barone is a one-man team handling everything from art and music to coding, just like he did with Stardew Valley. He even had to pause work on Haunted Chocolatier to manage the significant 1.6 update for Stardew Valley, which rolled out in November 2024. In September 2025, he announced a 1.7 update for Stardew Valley, though its release timeline remains unclear. Barone is currently juggling both the 1.7 update and Haunted Chocolatier, assuring fans that the Stardew update won’t delay the new game.

While Barone’s blog post doesn’t detail why he regrets the early announcement, it’s likely tied to the mounting pressure from fans eager for the game’s completion. Much of the update was dedicated to addressing rumors surrounding Haunted Chocolatier.

“First, I am not going to abandon Haunted Chocolatier,” Barone clarified in response to speculation that the game would be integrated into Stardew Valley. “But even if I did, I am not going to add it to Stardew Valley. They are separate games.”

He also emphasized that he isn’t using Stardew Valley to test ideas for Haunted Chocolatier and dismissed claims that he’s focusing on the 1.7 update due to burnout from the new project.

“I’m working on a new Stardew update because it’s a very popular game with a large, ever-growing player base, and I still have additional ideas for how to improve it,” he explained. “Anyway, the only thing that really matters is that I keep making progress on the game and release it. So I’m gonna get back to doing that now.”

Considering it took him nearly nine years to unlock all achievements in his own game, fans of Haunted Chocolatier might want to ease up on the release date inquiries. Barone has been consistently delivering impressive games and substantial free updates since 2016, and four years isn’t a long wait when you factor in the solo development process. He reassured fans on his blog, stating he’s “been very productive lately on Haunted Chocolatier.”

“I’m alive, the game is still in development, and it will come out when it’s ready,” Barone concluded in his update. “Thank you for your patience.”