Eric Barone

Eric Lorenz Barone ( bə-ROH-nee, born December 3, 1987), known professionally as ConcernedApe, is an American video game developer, designer, and composer. Barone grew up in Auburn, Washington, and studied computer science at the University of Washington Tacoma. He is best known for the 2016 farming simulation game Stardew Valley, which he developed alone over four and a half years as its designer, programmer, animator, artist, composer, and writer. As of February 2026, the game had sold more than 50 million copies, and critics have credited it with reviving the farming-simulation genre. Barone handled updates to the game himself for several years after its release before recruiting a small team to assist him in 2019, and has continued to support it while developing a second game, Haunted Chocolatier, a shop-management title announced in 2021. Stardew Valley received favorable reviews and has won or been nominated for numerous industry awards, including the Breakthrough Award at the 2016 Golden Joystick Awards; in 2025 it became the highest-rated game on Steam according to the user-review aggregator Steam250. Forbes named Barone to its "30 Under 30: Games" list in 2017 for his work on the game. He has also released albums of the game's music, co-authored an official cookbook, and organized two concert tours based on its soundtrack, and has donated to educational, environmental, and open-source software causes, including his alma mater and the game development framework MonoGame.