Eric Barone has nothing to prove as a video game creator. He made Stardew Valley as a solo developer and also keeps making more of it, resulting in the 1.6 update to the game that led to him promising that he was focusing on Haunted Chocolatier (his next announced game) until it finishes rather than going back to Stardew Valley. So he’s really done with the game now? Well… maybe. But he also outright says that he could conceivably make Stardew Valley 2, just not for the money.

To be clear, Barone doesn’t mean that in the sense of the game being freeware or anything like that; it’s just that the prospect of what would be more or less an irrelevant factor in whether or not he makes a sequel. He outright says that he doesn’t really care about money, and after the success of the first game, he doesn’t need to. So he’s focused on making enjoyable games, and considering the long tail of his big game – and the amount of fan-made content still coming – it’s clear that this actually works out pretty well for fans.