Stardew Valley has received years of major updates with thousands of tweaks and additions since it came out in 2016. The pixel-art farming sim just keeps growing, and all for a one-time price of $15. Creator Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone says that’s never changing.
The game got its sweeping 1.6 version earlier this year. Among hundreds of other things it added new farm types, festivals, character dialogue, mastery perks, and the ability to have more than one pet at once. It even fixed some players’ bugged marriages. Fans are now waiting for those changes to make their way over to the mobile version of the game, and for Stardew Valley on PC to get its next big expansion.
“As long as everything you add is completely free, with a bunch of new content, QOL [quality of life], etc, people won’t complain for the wait,” one fan wrote to the developer on Twitter recently (via Eurogamer). Barone responded by telling players to roast him if he ever decides to charge for future content. “I swear on the honor of my family name, I will never charge money for a DLC or update for as long as I live. Screencap this and shame me if I ever violate this oath.”
Stardew Valley, which remains one of the best selling games on Steam, is a lot like No Man’s Sky in this regard. Hello Games’ sci-fi survival sim also keeps getting free updates and new content every year, growing into something more than any expected back during its launch. Most recently, a Worlds Part 1 overhaul completely changed the look and feel of No Man’s Sky’s procedurally generated planets, helping even long-time fans to fall in love with it all over again. There’s not even microtransactions in the game.
Fans have often remarked that Barone could have probably gotten away charging the full price of the game for all of the additional content he’s put into Stardew Valley. It’s one of the things that sets it apart, especially as the developer continues pushing out new updates even as he’s busy making a completely new RPG sim called Haunted Chocolatier about ghosts and candy.
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