Stardew Valley dev is very protective of their IP, and won’t just hand it over

With the Stardew Valley orchestral tour kicking off in 2024, Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone’s highly successful farm-based RPG is still a major talking point in gaming. One can’t help but wonder whether the game will make its way into other aspects of pop culture, but that might be easier said than done.

You see, according to an interview with IGN, Barone is quite protective of the Stardew Valley brand. He says that he’s wary about just “[handing] it over to someone” to make what they want with the IP. This is largely in reference to a potential movie adaptation of the game. While there isn’t one in the works, Barone says he’d be interested in a big screen version if the right studio or director came along. However, he still says he would “need to be closely involved” with such a project.

Imagine Stardew Valley set in Twin Peaks

In particular, Barone would likely agree to an adaptation if he was approached by Studio Ghibli. In a somewhat tonal shift away from Japanese animation, he also said he would be happy if Eraserhead and Twin Peaks director David Lynch wanted to make a Stardew movie. Now, who wouldn’t want to see that?

As for the game itself, we’re anticipating a new update, which the developer has been teasing lately. We don’t know when it’s likely to roll out, but version 1.6 is said to be adding new dialogue, a new farm type, winter outfits for villagers, and more.

In any case, Stardew is still going strong, notable for having a huge amount of content for a small, independent game. Whether a film adaptation will ever see the light of day remains to be seen, but I’m wondering how Tarantino would portray a sleepy Pelican Town.