Stardew Valley creator Eric Barone, otherwise known as ConcernedApe, has made a very strong pledge regarding the inclusion of paid updates or DLC in his games.
Speaking on X (formerly Twitter) earlier today, Barone provided an update regarding the work he's doing on Stardew Valley, promising that "the ports and next PC update are still in progress" and that he'll announce when "there is any meaningful news".
A user responded to Barone by saying that as long as everything added to the game is "completely free", people won't complain about waiting, which is when Barone made his solemn pledge: that he will "never charge money for a DLC or update for as long as I live".
Barone says he swears "on the honor of [his] family name" that he'll never make players pay for an update or a DLC pack, and he doesn't specify that he means Stardew Valley alone, so that presumably applies to all of his games.
He says that fellow X users should "screencap this and shame [him]" if he ever goes back on his word, so feel free to do that, although I'm sure that Barone is sincere, so you probably won't need to use it as leverage.
This does mean, however, that when (or perhaps that should be "if") Haunted Chocolatier ever sees the light of day, you won't have to pay anything for its DLC either. Chalk that up as a win for indie development, eh?
For now, though, it looks like Barone is focused on bringing the Stardew Valley 1.6 update to consoles and mobile devices. Porting the update to these platforms requires "extra work" over and above what the PC version needs, according to Barone.
We may be a ways away from Haunted Chocolatier, but for now, you can check out Stardew Valley on...well, pretty much everything. Stay tuned for more.
