Stardew Valley has always been popular, but not this popular. Since the colorful farming game’s latest update arrived, thousands of players have returned to their farms and rekindled their old friendships with the locals. The Stardew Valley craze reached an all-time high on March 19 with a staggering 140k active players.
When Stardew Valley released on February 26, 2016, it garnered over 50,000 players in a matter of days, making it a true breakout indie game. That number dropped down to less than 20,000 active players on average, but proved enough to establish a loyal fanbase. It wasn’t until late December 2020 that Stardew Valley broke its previous player record by gaining almost 100,000 simultaneously active players.
Guess the reason for that previous record? Yup, that’s right: it was due to the release of update 1.5, which included a new farm layout, swimming ducks, new music, new events, fish tanks, and much more. It’s no wonder, then, that players once again got excited for a major Stardew Valley update – especially after a three-year wait. Still, the record-shattering total of almost 150,000 peak players is probably more than even developer ‘ConcernedApe’ expected.
If this news got you curious, here’s an overview of the new Stardew Valley content in the new 1.6 update:
- New festivals and environmental events.
- A new farm type.
- A new endgame skill system.
- Hundreds of new dialogue lines.
- More pets.
- New crafting items, crops, furniture, etc.
Safe to say, Stardew Valley 1.6 is huge – those 150,000 players are unlikely to suffer from boredom anytime soon. If you’d like to join them, Stardew Valley currently has a 20% discount on Steam, priced at a total of $11.99/£8.79.
In case you’re not too taken by update 1.6 however, there are many amazing games like Stardew Valley out there, including more realistic (or much less realistic) farming games.
You can also follow us on Google News for daily PC games news, reviews, and guides, or grab our PCGN deals tracker to net yourself some bargains.