Eric Barone

Eric Lorenz Barone ( , born December 3, 1987), known professionally as ConcernedApe, is an American video game developer, designer, and composer.

He is best known for independently developing the 2016 video game Stardew Valley. Working alone, Barone served as the game's sole designer, programmer, animator, artist, composer, and writer over four and a half years of development. As of February 2026, the game has sold more than 50 million copies, and is credited by several outlets with revitalizing the farming-simulation genre. He worked alone on updates to the game for several years after its release before recruiting a small team to assist him in 2019, and has continued to support the game while developing his next title, Haunted Chocolatier, a shop-management game announced in 2021.

Stardew Valley received favorable reviews from critics and has won or been nominated for numerous industry awards, including the Breakthrough Award at the 2016 Golden Joystick Awards. Barone was named in Forbess "30 Under 30: Games" list in 2017 for his work on the game. Beyond developing the game, he has released several albums of the game's music, co-authored an official cookbook, and organized two orchestral concert tours based on its soundtrack. He has also donated to educational and environmental causes, including his alma mater and a nonprofit supporting the game development framework MonoGame.

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 cited the Harvest Moon series as his childhood favorite, which continued to influence him into adulthood. Barone played music growing up, and was a member of several bands, including a nu metal band and an experimental pop band. For the latter's album, he created his first video game, a LucasArts-inspired point-and-click game.

He attended the University of Washington Tacoma and graduated in 2011 with a degree in computer science.

Career

Stardew Valley (2012–present)

Barone began working on Stardew Valley in 2012 and released it in 2016. He created the game entirely on his own as its sole designer, programmer, animator, artist, composer, and writer. To complete the game, Barone worked an average of 10 hours a day, seven days a week for four and a half years.

Barone initially released Stardew Valley on the PC before later porting it to other consoles, and has been assisted in its development by a small team since 2019. As of February 2026, the game has sold over 50 million copies.

In 2016, Barone released Stardew Valley: Original Soundtrack, which contains the game's official soundtrack. He followed this on August 15, 2020, with the orchestral album Symphonic Tale: The Place I Truly Belong (Music from Stardew Valley), directed by Kentaro Sato and performed by the Budapest Symphony Orchestra, which includes 15 tracks from the game's original soundtrack.

In February 2021, Barone and board game designer Cole Medeiros released Stardew Valley: The Board Game, a cooperative board game adaptation of Stardew Valley. After the first printing of the game went on sale, it quickly sold out. Sales were later reopened with several changes.

Barone collaborated with Norihiko Hibino on Prescription for Sleep, an album series that remixes video game soundtracks with piano and saxophone; the Stardew Valley installment was released in May 2021 and includes 10 tracks from the game's original soundtrack alongside one new track, "Beauty in the Seasons". He then announced two concert tours: Stardew Valley: Festival of Seasons in October 2023, featuring a selection of the game's music performed live by a chamber orchestra, and Stardew Valley: Symphony of Seasons in November 2024, featuring new arrangements of the game's music performed by a 35-piece orchestra.

Barone was the co-author of The Official Stardew Valley Cookbook, released on May 14, 2024, which includes more than 50 recipes adapted from the in-game recipes featured in Stardew Valley. In July 2026, Barone announced a follow-up title, The Official Stardew Valley Crochet Book, co-written with Ryan Novak and crochet designer Megan Lapp and scheduled for release by Random House Worlds on January 26, 2027; the book contains 25 crochet patterns that can be used to create more than 45 amigurumi projects. His musical compositions from Stardew Valley have also been featured multiple times on Northwest Public Broadcasting's video game music radio program, Press A To Play, beginning with the program's second episode, Pacific Northwest Independent Games, and continuing in later episodes Indie Darlings and Games We Played in 2020.

In July 2026, Wizards of the Coast announced a crossover between Stardew Valley and its collectible card game Magic: The Gathering, unveiled at MagicCon Amsterdam as the Secret Lair series Superdrop of the Moonlight Jellies. The crossover comprises 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 the game. The sets were released on July 27, 2026.

Haunted Chocolatier (2021–present) In October 2021, Barone announced that a new game, Haunted Chocolatier, was under development. In the game, the player will run a chocolate shop. It will have a greater focus on combat than in Stardew Valley. Barone stated that "almost everything in Haunted Chocolatier, including the combat, is completely coded (and drawn) from scratch." He continues to support Stardew Valley while working on the new title.

Other projects (2008–present) In 2008, Barone released his first game, known as 17CF Quest, which was also a promotion for the music group 17 Colorful Feathers; the game's main character is found as a piece of furniture in Stardew Valley. In 2011, he created a comic book series called Wumbus World.

In 2014, Barone took a month-long break during the development of Stardew Valley. During this break, Barone used his time to piece together a small mobile game to release on Android. The game was titled Air Pear and was released on March 6, 2014. In the game, players would need to guide a purple pear on a hoverboard between obstacles and compete for a high score.

In 2022, Barone collaborated on an animated music video with indie pop band Alvvays for the band's song "Many Mirrors". Barone was responsible for the video's animation, and it was his first time working with 3D animation.

In 2024, Barone announced that he played in a Seattle-based steelpan band. The following year, he voiced one of the characters in the video game Hollow Knight: Silksong, which was released in 2025.

Impact Industry Inverse and Destructoid both credited Stardew Valley with revitalizing the farming-simulation genre and helping popularize cozy games more broadly, more than two decades after the Harvest Moon series established the genre. Writing for Digital Trends, Tomas Franzese argued that although the original Harvest Moon games established the farming-sim format, Stardew Valley became the standard against which later entries in the genre, including newer Harvest Moon and Story of Seasons titles, are measured. PC Gamer writers Wes Fenlon and Kara Phillips similarly described the game as the foundation of the modern farming-sim genre, noting that new releases in the genre are routinely compared to it; they pointed to titles such as Disney Dreamlight Valley and Coral Island as among the games that followed in its wake.

Critical reception Stardew Valley received generally favorable reviews from critics on release. On Metacritic, the PC version holds a score of 89 out of 100 based on 30 critic reviews, indicating "generally favorable" reception. OpenCritic gives the game a "Mighty" rating with an average score of 90 across 76 critic reviews, placing it in the top one percent of games tracked by the site and noting that it is recommended by 99 percent of critics. In 2019, GamesRadar+ included Stardew Valley among the games that defined the 2010s, praising its ability to draw players in over hundreds of hours.

In December 2016, Gamasutra named Barone one of its ten best game developers of the year, crediting him with single-handedly reinvigorating a genre long dominated by the Story of Seasons series. Yasuhiro Wada, the creator of Harvest Moon, has praised Stardew Valley as carrying on his own series' legacy, and Barone has described a signed copy of Wada's original Harvest Moon cartridge as one of his most treasured possessions. He is also the recipient of the 2019 University of Washington Tacoma Distinguished Alumni Award.

Stardew Valley has received the following industry awards and nominations: Year Award Category Work Result 2016 Golden Joystick Awards Best Indie Game Stardew Valley PC Game of the Year Breakthrough Award The Game Awards 2016 Best Independent Game 17th Game Developers Choice Awards Best Debut Independent Games Festival Seumas McNally Grand Prize SXSW Gaming Awards Most Promising New Intellectual Property 13th British Academy Games Awards Best Game The Steam Awards The 'Best Use Of A Farm Animal' Award The 'I Thought This Game Was Cool Before It Won An Award' Award 2017 The Steam Awards 'The World Is Grim Enough Let's Just All Get Along' Award Stardew Valley 2018 The Steam Awards Labor of Love Stardew Valley 2024 The Steam Awards Labor of Love Stardew Valley

Philanthropy In May 2021, Barone funded key upgrades (including watering systems and a greenhouse) for the Giving Garden at UW Tacoma's campus (21st & Fawcett). His donations also established a paid student coordinator role, helping the garden donate 200+ lbs of food annually. In July 2024, he donated at least $25,000 to Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization which works to steward the 1.5-million-acre landscape that stretches from Seattle to Ellensburg along I-90. In December 2025, MonoGame announced that Barone had supported the project with an initial donation of $125,000 and a commitment to make regular monthly donations of $1,250.

Personal life During the development of Stardew Valley, Barone lived with his parents for part of the time to save money, before moving out with his girlfriend, Amber Hageman, to Capitol Hill, Seattle.

Works Video games

2021 – Stardew Valley: The Board Game (co-designer, with Cole Medeiros; board game adaptation) 2025 – Hollow Knight: Silksong (voice role) 2026 – Magic: The Gathering (Secret Lair series Superdrop of the Moonlight Jellies; artist)

Music Year Title Role Notes 2016 Stardew Valley: Original Soundtrack Composer The soundtrack of video game music from Stardew Valley 2020 Symphonic Tale: The Place I Truly Belong (Music from Stardew Valley) Source composer Orchestral album directed by Kentaro Sato and performed by the Budapest Symphony Orchestra; 15 tracks 2021 Prescription for Sleep: Stardew Valley Composer Collaboration with Norihiko Hibino; includes new track "Beauty in the Seasons"

Concert tours 2023 – Stardew Valley: Festival of Seasons 2024 – Stardew Valley: Symphony of Seasons

Literature Year Title Role Notes 2011 Wumbus World Creator Comic strip series 2024 The Official Stardew Valley Cookbook Co-author More than 50 recipes adapted from in-game recipes 2027 The Official Stardew Valley Crochet Book Co-author Written with Ryan Novak and crochet designer Megan Lapp; 25 patterns for more than 45 amigurumi projects; scheduled for release January 26, 2027