When Stardew Valley first arrived onto the scene, it was hailed even by Harvest Moon fans as the game that should have been. At the very least, it was ruled in favor over the latter and for good reason. Created by a singular developer by the online alias “ConcernedApe,” Eric Barone has left publisher Chucklefish to pursue more independent means of video game creations. According to both parties, the decision was made on good terms as Barone tackles on challenges of complete independence.

After a long-term relationship with Chucklefish, Barone will begin self-publishing his IP for PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PSVITA on December 14th, 2018. As for platforms such as Nintendo Switch and mobile, Chucklefish will maintain the rights to that. Sharing his thoughts on the official Stardew Valley website, the creator states:

When I first released Stardew Valley, I was a complete novice to the video game industry. Chucklefish, as my publisher, oversaw the distribution, console ports and translations of the game. They set up the official wiki and helped me redesign the website, to great effect. And of course,Tom Coxon did amazing work adding network code to the game, making multiplayer a reality.

But I’m at a point now where I’m ready to move forward on my own. I think self-publishing is the end-goal of most indie developers, and I’m happy to be in a place where that’s possible! Expect some more announcements concerning the future of Stardew Valley soon… stay tuned!

Following up on Barone’s statement, publisher Chucklefish added to the conversation in support of his new endeavor:

We are proud to be part of the Stardew Valley story and wish ConcernedApe every success with his new self-publishing venture. We will carry on working closely together and are particularly excited to be continuing to publish the versions of Stardew Valley for Nintendo Switch and Mobile, including the upcoming Switch Multiplayer update (in submission now) and new Android version which we know many of you are looking forward to!

In the end, leaving the publisher was likely a conversation that Barone had with Chucklefish at some point in their long-standing partnership. Since he believes self-publishing is an honorable objective for independent creators, it’s certainly a new accomplishment for the developer in the video game industry. We can support that!

What do you think about ConcernedApe’s new venture toward independent publishing? Are you excited to see what the developer has in store? Let us know what you think in the comments section below or start a conversation on DFTG Facebook page. To stay up to date on gaming news as it happens, follow us on Twitter! Here’s some of our latest to catch up on:

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Stardew Valley is available to play on PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, iOS and Android mobile devices.