'I've always released on PC first': Stardew Valley creator Eric Barone discusses why the 1.6 update came to PC before console—'it's sort of a beta test'

(Image credit: Concerned Ape)

Stardew Valley's 1.6 update has been an ongoing venture for creator Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone for most of this year, ever since the patch was released on PC in March.

150,000 players flooded back into the cosy game when the update went live, but for the longest time, 1.6 has only been accessible to those playing on PC.

"I've always released on PC first because it's sort of a 'beta test' to make sure there are no critical (eg, save-destroying) bugs, which are a much bigger deal on consoles because they can't be patched out as quickly," Barone says in a tweet. "However, I never intended for the delay to be this long."

There have been a few small patches on PC after the Stardew Valley 1.6 update. These have mostly addressed minor bugs and issues players found in the game. The 1.6.3 patch that went live days after 1.6 fixed a "creepy face" on a bear and adjusted some of the drop rates for various items. The most recent 1.6.6 patch addressed a long list of balance and bug fixes, including a disappearing raccoon, an inaccessible area in the volcano dungeon, and the game crashing if you spoke to Penny in French.

While 1.6 is clearly an incredible achievement and full of wonderful new features, it's clear that this massive update has needed a ton of work to fix little issues ahead of its launch on console and mobile. Barone is also renowned for being a perfectionist who takes a lot of time and care working on Stardew Valley, so a long wait isn't surprising or a bad thing.

Luckily, most players are taking the long wait well. "Don't worry about people being impatient or mean even though you've been working so hard on that update," one player says. "Thank you for the set date, and I can't wait to play!"

Elie is a news writer with an unhealthy love of horror games—even though their greatest fear is being chased. When they're not screaming or hiding, there's a good chance you'll find them testing their metal in metroidvanias or just admiring their Pokemon TCG collection. Elie has previously worked at TechRadar Gaming as a staff writer and studied at JOMEC in International Journalism and Documentaries – spending their free time filming short docs about Smash Bros. or any indie game that crossed their path.