Stardew Valley creator Eric Barone, better known by his alias Concerned Ape, expressed his interest in a Stardew Valley movie directed by Studio Ghibli or David Lynch in a recent IGN interview.
Since its launch back in 2016, Stardew Valley has only collaborated twice, the first being a board game, and the upcoming Festival of Seasons concert. “I’m just too protective of my intellectual property (IP) to simply hand it over for the creation of a Stardew Valley movie or any such project,” Barone said. “I would need to be closely involved with that”.
Announcing the first ever Stardew Valley Concert Tour, "Festival Of Seasons". A selection of music from Stardew Valley, performed by a chamber orchestra. Cities and dates in the image below. Tickets available starting this Friday 10 am at https://t.co/zJTNHRlIUC pic.twitter.com/SbWrzGyuAc
— ConcernedApe (@ConcernedApe) October 10, 2023
Notably, more movies based on video games have spawned in recent years, with titles like Uncharted, Gran Turismo, Super Mario, and Detective Pikachu achieving widespread popularity. There are upcoming adaptations of franchises such as Metal Gear Solid, Borderlands, and Bioshock to look forward to as well.
While Barone acknowledged the intriguing possibility of the beloved farming sim in the film medium, he thinks it’s risky to give the characters voice acting and autonomous movement.
As such, he feels like it’s better to focus on developing more games instead, and would only agree to a movie if particular directors had an interest in the project. “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.”
Stardew Valley: Festival of Seasons will be embarking on its first-ever concert tour in 2024, seeing the game’s music performed by a chamber orchestra. ConcernedApe’s next project, Haunted Chocolatier, remains in the development phase, with a release date yet to be determined.
Everything changed when his parents bought him a PlayStation 2 for Christmas. Since then, he’s been hooked on all things esports, video games, and music. If he’s not livestreaming his shenanigans, he’s probably out taking mirror-selfies with his friends, vigorously debating over the Internet’s Meme of the Year.
Edwin Teo
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