Stardew Valley creator ConcernedApe, aka Eric Barone, said that he would be interested in creating a Stardew Valley movie if Studio Ghibli or David Lynch involved.
In an interview with IGN, Barone explained that he is careful with the Stardew Valley brand, as he has only explored other ventures such as the Stardew Valley board game and the upcoming Festival of Seasons concert. "I'm just too protective of my IP to just hand it over to someone and say go ahead and make a Stardew Valley movie or whatever," he said. "I would need to be closely involved with that."
According to him, there are some cool opportunities within that medium for Stardew Valley, but he feels like it's risky giving characters voice acting and having them move around on their own.
Barone also felt that his time could be better spent just developing more games. He would only agree if particular and esteemed studios came knocking on his door to create such projects. "If Studio Ghibli approached me, I would probably say okay, let's do it," he chuckled. "If David Lynch approached me and wanted to make a Stardew Valley movie, I would say go ahead, just do it."
Movies based on video games have been becoming popular over the past few years, including Uncharted, Gran Turismo, Super Mario, and Detective Pikachu. Franchises like Metal Gear Solid, Borderlands, and Bioshock are all getting movies as well.
Stardew Valley: Festival of Seasons is an upcoming concert that's set to tour around the around the world starting in 2024 and will celebrate the game's music. ConcernedApe's next game, Haunted Chocolatier, is still in development with an unspecified release window.
George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. He's been writing about the industry since 2019 and has worked with other publications such as Insider, Kotaku, NPR, and Variety.
When not writing about video games, George is playing video games. What a surprise! You can follow him on Twitter @Yinyangfooey
