Eric Barone

Eric Barone, better known as ConcernedApe, is the American game developer who created Stardew Valley almost entirely on his own. After earning a computer science degree from the University of Washington Tacoma in 2011 and struggling to find a programming job, he started a farming game as a way to practise C#. He spent roughly four and a half years on it, writing the code, drawing the pixel art, composing the music and designing every system himself.

Stardew Valley launched on PC in February 2016 and grew into one of the best-selling indie games ever, later arriving on consoles and mobile. Barone has kept updating it for free for years, most notably with the large 1.6 update in 2024. His official press page reported more than 41 million copies sold as of December 2024, and Wikipedia cites 50 million by February 2026.

Barone is famous in the indie world for his perfectionism, his long-term support for players, and his refusal to add paid DLC or microtransactions. Since 2019 a small team has helped with ports and updates, while he works on his next game, Haunted Chocolatier, announced in October 2021. The Stardew universe has also expanded into a board game, an official cookbook and touring orchestral concerts.