Stardew Valley creator Eric Barone, also known as ConcernedApe, has revealed that he will be releasing the game himself on Android devices.
Following the announcement, Barone has now taken control of the game’s advertising operations across all platforms, relinquishing any involvement from the UK’s publisher, Chucklefish.
Barone first collaborated with Chucklefish in 2015, when the latter handled advertising, distribution, console ports and localization.
A dream of indie developers
In November 2018, Baron announced in a blog post that he would post the games himself on all platforms except the Nintendo Switch and mobile devices. Baron stated that at the time the reason for the decision was made because he was “willing to move forward on my own” since self-publicity is a “dream” of indie developers.
Baron later restored the game’s advertising rights to the Nintendo Switch in October 2019, and later iOS in December 2021.
I’m now posting Stardew Valley on Android myself. With this change, I am now advertising the game myself on all digital platforms. Also, feel free to ask me any question (about anything) and I will answer as best I can
– ConcernedApe (@ConcernedApe) March 17, 2022
An explicit reason for switching to self-advertising on Android has not yet been specified.
Referring to the change in the blog post, Chekelfish’s COO Donna Orlovsky said: “We originally reached an agreement with Eric for a two-year term – with a plan of debt transfer and post-release advertising responsibilities. As a publisher – ConcernedApe is now set up for self-publishing for all platforms! “
Stardew Valley reached 10 million sales in all formats within just four years of release, and was a launch title on Google Play Pass.
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