Eric Barone says he 'can't believe' Stardew Valley has sold 20 million copies

Stardew Valley has been out for six years now, and somehow it just keeps on getting bigger. A recent update to the Stardew Valley press site indicates that the game has now sold more than 20 million copies across all platforms, including 13 million on PC alone.

"The 20 million copies milestone is really amazing," Stardew Valley creator Eric Barone said in an email to PC Gamer. "I can't believe the game has reached this level."

One of the most interesting things about the new milestone is the way the pace of Stardew Valley sales appears to be growing, despite its age. It sold more than one million copies just a couple months after release, and then hit the 10 million mark four years later, in January 2020. By September 2021 the number was over 15 million, and now, just eight months later, we're at 20 million.

Barone confirmed that this is in fact what's happening: Stardew Valley is selling better than ever. 

"The average daily sales of Stardew Valley are higher today than at any point," he wrote. "I'm not exactly sure why that is. My hope is that the game is just continuing to spread via word of mouth, and the more people that are playing it, the more people will share the game with their friends. Regardless, I'm very happy that Stardew Valley is still so popular."

But it turns out that getting from 15 to 20 million copies sold isn't quite as big a leap as it appears. "Some of the apparent jump in sales count was actually due to me doing a more accurate count this time around," Barone explained. "The old 15 million number was an undercount, because I didn't have complete information and wanted to err on the side of being too low. With the full move to self-publishing this year, I was able to do a more thorough sales count."

Barone revealed in early 2020 that he was working on two new games, and formally unveiled one of them, Haunted Chocolatier, in October 2021. He's continued to work on Stardew Valley throughout, and said that its ongoing popularity means he'll probably keep at it, but Haunted Chocolatier remains his priority.

"Ultimately I have to follow my heart or else the quality of the content will suffer," Barone wrote. "Right now I mostly feel like working on Haunted Chocolatier, so that's going to be my priority. If I need a break from Haunted Chocolatier, or have some ideas for Stardew Valley that I feel strongly about, then I might shift gears for a while. 

"I don't really have strict plans, though. If I am productive every day, and following my own path, then I feel good... and I think that will translate into a better end result for everyone."

Haunted Chocolatier currently doesn't have even a hint of a release date—as we noted when it was announced, Barone was very sparing with details leading up to the release of Stardew Valley, and we can likely expect the same with his new game.