This month, we’re celebrating Stardew Valley ahead of its 10th anniversary, and have a ton of Stardew-related pieces as a part of that. But when we spoke to creator Eric Barone (ConcernedApe) ahead of that celebration, we couldn’t help but also ask about his other game that’s still in-development and mysterious: Haunted Chocolatier.
Barone has been candid in the past that he’s had trouble balancing work on both Stardew Valley’s ongoing updates (with Patch 1.7 currently in progress) and Haunted Chocolatier. We started by asking him if that balance has changed recently and if he’s had more Chocolatier-time in his schedule. The answer from Barone is, yes, sort of.
“Well, part of the reason why I’ve expanded my team a little bit is so that hopefully I can spend more time working on Haunted Chocolatier,” he says. “And it’s worked out pretty well so far, I would say. On 1.7, the approach we’re taking is that I am like, you might say the creative director and I’m involved with like, ‘Okay, here’s what we’re going to do. Here’s some of the ideas.’ Then I let the team work on that. And then meanwhile, I’m working on Haunted Chocolatier.
“At some point in 1.7’s cycle, I will get heavily involved, because I feel like my hand needs to touch every part of the game, every aspect of the update. I need to go over it and adjust it or at least approve everything. So it will require a lot of my time anyway, but I think the balance has been a little bit more shifted, so that I can spend more time focused on Haunted Chocolatier. And I think it’s been working out pretty good. That’s been a big change from the 1.3 update or 1.1 or something where it’s completely me. I had no time to work on a new game. So that has changed.
“It is difficult because it’s hard to shift gears, I guess. If I’m thinking about Haunted Chocolatier, it’s difficult to be like, ‘Okay, I’m going to one day of the week or two days of the week work on Stardew Valley.’ That’s not how my brain works. I’m all in one thing or the other. So I’ve been trying to work on that. I feel like it requires a lot of discipline, which I’m always working to improve on.”
Haunted Chocolatier Screenshots 2023
Understandable, and there’s even more context on the work he’s done to balance Haunted Chocolatier and Stardew Valley at multiple other points in our full Q&A. But we couldn’t let the subject drop without just straight-up asking him how Haunted Chocolatier is going. Sadly, no concrete updates today. But Barone replies that it’s “coming along.” But it sounds like the wait will be worth it.
“The progress isn’t as fast as I would like. Nothing is ever as fast as I would like. The main important thing about Haunted Chocolatier is I’m not going to release anything that I’m not happy with. If I don’t think it’s a great game, I’m not going to release it. So even if that takes years and years, so be it. That’s just what I want to do. Fortunately, I don’t feel like there’s any real pressure. I haven’t received funding from anyone or crowdfunding. There’s not going to be any pre-orders.
“I don’t actually owe anyone the game. It’s like when I want to do it and when I want to release it, it’ll get done. I mean, it’s true that I’ve announced the game, that does create a lot of pressure on me because I do feel like I don’t want to disappoint the fans by taking too long, but there’s no real physical obligation with it. It’s more just mental constructs, you might say.”
Haunted Chocolatier Gameplay Screenshots
It makes sense that Haunted Chocolatier is taking a while, as Barone has previously said its world is “larger” than Stardew Valley’s. He also took a bit of a hiatus on the game back in 2024 due to struggles getting Stardew Valley 1.6’s console ports working. But it sounds like a bigger team is helping alleviate some of those struggles going forward. We’ll just have to keep being patient (and keep enjoying Stardew) while we wait for Barone’s next work, whenever it comes.
We’re celebrating Stardew’s 10th birthday this month with a bumper crop of stories. We interviewed ConcernedApe and chatted about topics such as the addition of two new marriage candidates with 1.7, the one secret players still haven’t found yet, and why there isn’t a Stardew Valley TV show yet. We also chatted with the Stardew Valley community about what the game has meant to them over the years.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.