ConcernedApe

ConcernedApe is Eric Lorenz Barone (pronounced buh-ROH-nee; born December 3, 1987), the creator and lead developer of Stardew Valley, as well as the name of the company he founded to continue game development. Born in Los Angeles, California, he grew up in Auburn, Washington, a suburb of Seattle, and studied computer science at the University of Washington Tacoma, graduating in 2011. From 2012 to 2019, he was the sole developer of the game (except the multiplayer networking code in 1.3) and created all art, sound effects, and music, working roughly 10 hours a day, seven days a week, over the four and a half years it took to finish it. He currently resides in Seattle, Washington. In early 2019, ConcernedApe formed a small development team to continue updating the game. The 1.4 update of the game was developed by ConcernedApe, Arthur Lee (a.k.a. Mr. Podunkian), and Alex Erlandson (a.k.a. zillix). The 1.5 update of the game was developed by ConcernedApe and Arthur Lee. See Stardew Valley for more info about the game's development.

As of February 2026, Stardew Valley had sold more than 50 million copies. The game is widely credited with reviving the farming-simulation genre pioneered decades earlier by the Harvest Moon series—a childhood favorite of Barone's—and in 2017 Forbes named him to its "30 Under 30: Games" list for his work on it.

In early 2019, ConcernedApe formed a small development team to continue updating the game. The 1.4 update of the game was developed by ConcernedApe, Arthur Lee (a.k.a. Mr. Podunkian), and Alex Erlandson (a.k.a. zillix). The 1.5 update of the game was developed by ConcernedApe and Arthur Lee. See Stardew Valley for more info about the game's development.

In late 2021 he announced ConcernedApe's Haunted Chocolatier, a new game still in development in which the player runs a chocolate shop. ConcernedApe began work on this game in late 2020 as the sole developer. The game places a greater emphasis on combat than Stardew Valley did, and Barone has said that almost everything in it—including the combat—was coded and drawn from scratch. He has continued to release updates for Stardew Valley while working on the new game.

Early life

Barone was born on December 3, 1987, in Los Angeles, California, and spent his childhood in Auburn, Washington, a suburb of the Seattle metropolitan area. He has cited the Harvest Moon series as a childhood favorite that continued to influence him into adulthood.

Although he had no formal musical training, Barone played music from a young age and was a member of several bands, including a nu metal band and an experimental pop act called 17 Colorful Feathers. It was for the latter band's album that he made his first video game, a LucasArts-inspired point-and-click adventure titled 17CF Quest (2008); its main character later reappeared as a piece of furniture in Stardew Valley.

Barone graduated from the University of Washington Tacoma in 2011 with a degree in computer science, but did not initially consider game development as a career. Unable to find work after graduating, he began developing Stardew Valley as a way to practice programming in C#, intending to show the finished game to potential employers on his résumé.

Other work

Barone has worked on a number of smaller projects alongside Stardew Valley and Haunted Chocolatier:

• 17CF Quest (2008) – Barone's first game, a promotional tie-in for his band, 17 Colorful Feathers.
• Wumbus World (2011) – a comic strip series.
• Air Pear (2014) – a mobile game for Android, made during a month-long break from developing Stardew Valley; players guide a purple pear on a hoverboard between obstacles while chasing a high score.
• Stardew Valley: The Board Game (2021) – a cooperative board game co-designed with Cole Medeiros; its first printing sold out, and it returned to sale later that year with revised cards and rules.
• A music video for "Many Mirrors" by the indie pop band Alvvays (2022) – Barone's first work in 3D animation.
• The Official Stardew Valley Cookbook (released May 14, 2024) – co-authored by Barone, adapting more than 50 recipes from the game.
• In 2025, Barone voiced a character in Hollow Knight: Silksong.
• Secret Lair: Superdrop of the Moonlight Jellies (announced July 2026, released July 27, 2026) – a Magic: The Gathering crossover from Wizards of the Coast comprising three card sets (Welcome to Stardew Valley, Life in Pelican Town, and A Flicker in the Deep), for which Barone created original pixel art, including a new land card themed around Stardew Valley.
• The Official Stardew Valley Crochet Book – announced in July 2026 and co-written with Ryan Novak and crochet designer Megan Lapp, with 25 patterns for more than 45 amigurumi projects; scheduled for release on January 26, 2027.

Barone has also said he plays in a Seattle-based steelpan band, and has been thanked in the credits of other indie games he inspired, including The Land of Crows (2019) and Fields of Mistria (2024).

Trivia

• Setting the favorite thing when starting the game to "ConcernedApe" will trigger special dialogue upon consumption of a Stardrop.
• When launching Stardew Valley, if the player clicks on ConcernedApe's face, he will open his eyes or remove his sunglasses and a 'splat' or honk sound will play. There is also a 2% chance that the screen and ConcernedApe logo will turn green and have leaves fill the screen, similar to the effect when drinking the Forest Magic potion.

See also

• Developer Blog
• Stardew Valley

External links

• Interviews:
  • Interview with Eric Barone, Creator of Stardew Valley, Kristi's Blog, 07 October 2012
  • One on One, Metagamingtv, 02 March 2013
  • Show Us Your Rig: Stardew Valley's Eric Barone, PCGamer, 05 January 2016
  • Stardew Valley: Pushing The Boundaries of Farming RPGs, Cornell Sun, 23 February 2016
  • GI Show, Game Informer, 10 March 2016
  • The creators of Stardew Valley and Harvest Moon talk to us about farm games, PC Gamer, 01 December 2016
  • Valley Forged: How One Man Made the Indie Video Game Sensation Stardew Valley, GQ, 20 March 2018
  • Stardew Valley's Creator on Self-Publishing, the "Everything" Update, and His Future as a Solo Developer, USgamer, 08 October 2019
  • Auburn native develops beloved, bestselling video game (with video), King5 News, 15 April 2020
  • How Stardew Valley Keeps Building On Success, GameInformer, 08 September 2020
• ConcernedApe on Twitter
• ConcernedApe on YouTube
• Eric Barone on Wikipedia