- Primary Subject: Stardew Valley Developer
- Key Update: ConcernedApe is ceasing all interviews.
- Status: Published
- Last Verified: 2026-05-19
- Quick Answer: Stardew Valley's developer, ConcernedApe, has decided to stop giving interviews due to the spread of out-of-context information and resulting controversy.
It looks like Eric Barone, better known as ConcernedApe, is completely done with interviews, at least for the foreseeable future.
The beloved solo developer of undeniably one of the most successful indie games of all time, Stardew Valley, which, at the time of writing, has sold over 50 million copies, found himself amid a bizarre controversy after making some out-of-context comments about infidelity.
In short, big sites and content creators like Pirat_Nation took a now-deleted post by AUTOMATONJapan, which stated that Barone was considering adding "affairs" with NPCs to Stardew Valley.
The creator quickly clarified this was not true, but the damage was already done, with the rumor spreading like wildfire. This led to the developer, on May 19, to simply state he's done with interviews, adding that the constant out-of-context quotes that get spread across the internet, removing any nuance in the process, are not worth the effort.
He continued explaining that: "People ought to just stop believing anything unless they can verify it themselves from the actual source, in context. But I get it, not everyone's plugged in enough to spend all day hunting down sources, you got a life to live."
In any case, the vast majority of the Stardew Valley community seems incredibly supportive of Barone, who's hard at work in his next game: Haunted Chocolatier, an incredibly ambitious project that's, according to him, much bigger than Stardew in terms of scope.
Finally, he clarified it wasn't a dig at any particular interviewer, but rather the trickling of information that stems from sources regurgitating each other until the original meaning is completely lost.
"There are always these 3rd party article mills that cherry pick quotes out of context and create misleading narratives about me or my plans for the games. It's just annoying. I'll just post on here if I want to say something."
And that's it. Stick with us at StealthOptional: your go-to source for all things indie games.