Stardew Valley creator regrets announcing Haunted Chocolatier so early

Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone said in a recent update on his Haunted Chocolatier blog that he regrets announcing the game so early, writing, “Yep, it’s taking a while to finish the game.” Barone first revealed the pixelated haunted-confectionery sim in 2021; five years later it remains in development with no release date.

Barone — who creates his games largely on his own, handling art, soundtrack and code — paused work on Haunted Chocolatier to oversee Stardew Valley’s 1.6 update, which launched in November 2024. He announced a 1.7 update for Stardew Valley in September 2025, though the timing of that release is unclear.

In the blog post Barone moved to dispel rumours, writing, “First, I am not going to abandon Haunted Chocolatier,” and adding that he would not merge it into Stardew Valley. He also denied using Stardew Valley as a testbed for Haunted Chocolatier ideas and rejected suggestions that he was working on the 1.7 update because he was burnt out on the new game.

Barone said he’s been productive on Haunted Chocolatier and stressed priorities: “the only thing that really matters is that I keep making progress on the game and release it. So I’m gonna get back to doing that now.” He closed the post with, “I’m alive, the game is still in development, and it will come out when it’s ready.

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