'I have not touched Haunted Chocolatier in a long time': Eric Barone says work on Stardew Valley's 1.6 console and mobile port is still ongoing

Stardew Valley's 1.6 update was released earlier this year for PC. But it wasn't an average patch, as it added a ridiculous amount of new features like a brand new farm, more festivals, and tons of quirky secrets for players to uncover. It was so popular with fans that 150,000 players flooded back into the game. 

Unfortunately, the fun has been restricted to PC players as creator Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone has been hard at work since March trying to get the mobile and console 1.6 patch ready. Barone is still incredibly involved with patching and porting and has been giving small updates for months now. 

"I know that the console and mobile players are eager to play 1.6, and I am doing everything within my power to have the ports ready as soon as possible," Barone says. "The ports require extra work beyond the PC version. There is also another patch for PC underway, which mainly [consists of] some bug fixes." Basically, Barone's spinning plates on plates. 

But with all this time and effort being sunk into Stardew Valley, some fans are worried that Barone has forgotten about his upcoming RPG, Haunted Chocolatier. Barone announced this upcoming game back in October 2021: "After dedicating 10 years of my life to Stardew Valley (and counting), the time has finally come to announce my next game," he said in a blog post. "It's called ConcernedApe's Haunted Chocolatier." 

There were a couple of progress updates following the announcement, but sadly, we've not really heard anything new since October 2023, and even that was just a couple of screenshots. But Barone clearly has enough on his plate with Stardew Valley; he even noted that his obsession with perfecting Stardew Valley is eating into Haunted Chocolatier's development. 

So it doesn't really come as a surprise that Barone's latest Stardew Valley progress update also includes an apology to Haunted Chocolatier fans. "Console and mobile ports are still in progress," Barone says. "I acknowledge that they are taking a long time. There are reasons for this, but the bottom line is that they are not out yet. We are still working on them, and they have been our primary focus since 1.6 came out for PC. It would be a huge relief to me if they were ready for today, but they aren't, so all we can do is continue working on them until they are ready. 

"I have not touched Haunted Chocolatier in a long time because I am committed to finalising Stardew 1.6 first. To those who are frustrated or even angry about the timeline, I understand and accept full responsibility. To those who are patient and understanding, thank you. You make life better and reduce stress, and I appreciate it. Back to work." 

Barone can take as much time as he needs to get work on Haunted Chocolatier done. Would I like to play the game as soon as possible? Sure. But do I want it at the expense of his or anyone else's mental or physical health? Of course not. Barone and his small team are and have been doing stellar work on Stardew Valley, and I'm just excited to see what they'll go on to achieve with Haunted Chocolatier in the future, whenever that may be.