Crossovers in video games are nothing new. In fact, it’s been happening for a lot longer than you might think. It may have started out small and then led to some big things, but nowadays, crossovers between major brands, franchises, and publishers are considered huge news in the gaming space. We saw that recently with certain crossovers announced at Gamescom. There is often a problem with such crossovers, though: cost and the actual content. As in, it’s just not worth it to “partake” in such crossovers. However, with something like Stardew Valley, you’ll never have to worry about that, because its creator takes the high road in every conceivable way.
Now, to be fair, Stardew Valley doesn’t have that many crossovers to begin with. However, ConcernedApe, the game’s maker, does have a few happen every once in a while, including a recent one that was announced with Infinity Nikki. On Twitter, ConcernedApe made a post that definitely surprised his fans when he noted:
“There have been a few collaborations between Stardew Valley and other games over the years. To be clear, i never receive any money from these collabs. I’ve only done them because I was a fan of the other games, or because I genuinely thought the players would like it.”
How refreshing, wouldn’t you say? He didn’t do this for monetary reasons, but because he felt that people would like it. That’s pretty cool. Things only grew more wholesome when his new “partner” dev team quoted his tweet and said:
“We really appreciate you sharing your feelings on this. Any unintended stress was the last thing we wanted. It was our way of saying thanks—a free love letter to Stardew Valley from our team and for the community. Working on it felt like we were all tending a little farm together. The care and detail you pour into your world is exactly why we want to make cozy games too. We’re still learning from you every day.”
Isn’t this so sweet?
The irony of all of this is that it directly flies in the face of other crossovers and “content swaps” we’ve seen in other games where it either A) costs way too much to get all the content, B) one game gets a LOT more content than the other, giving one fanbase the shaft, and C) being nothing more than cash grab because the teams think they can get away with it.
The lesson here is that you should be more like ConcernedApe and do things “for the love of the game and fans,” and not because of money.
