Stardew Valley dev splits with UK publishing partner Chucklefish
"I'm at a point now where I'm ready to move forward on my own."
Stardew Valley developer Eric Barone has split from his publishing partner, Chucklefish.
In a blog post on the official website, Barone - aka ConcernedApe - announced he would be self-publishing Stardew Valley on PC, PlayStation 4 and Vita, and Xbox One, whilst Chucklefish retains publishing duties on Nintendo Switch and mobile platforms.
"When I first released Stardew Valley, I was a complete novice to the video game industry," Barone writes. "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!"
According to Barone, and a statement he attributes to his publishing partner, the split is amicable.
"We are proud to be part of the Stardew Valley story and wish ConcernedApe every success with his new self-publishing venture," says Chucklefish's statement on Barone's post. "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!"
Simon Parkin reviewed Stardew Valley for Eurogamer when it came to Nintendo Switch in October 2017. He rated it as essential, saying "a modern indie classic on PC finds in Nintendo's Switch the perfect platform".
