Stardew Valleyis credited for reviving the farming simulator franchise that was pioneered by theHarvest Moonfranchise. What made the game even more impressive is that it was made solely by developer Eric Barone aka ConcenedApe.Given the critical acclaimStardew Valleyreceived since then, its success story has inspired countless indie developers, resulting in the creation of similar games.
However, one particular developer appears to have taken inspiration too far and is now being accused of ripping offStardew Valley. A game calledSuper Zoo Storyrecently released preview images of its early build, and players immediately noticed the resemblance toStardew Valley. Given all the attention the issue has brought to both games, particularly toSuper Zoo Story,one can’t help but wonder whether the whole fiasco was intentional.
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Why The Whole Stardew Valley-Super Zoo Story Fiasco May Not Be an Accident
To be fair, it is worth mentioning that the developers ofSuper Zoo Storyhave since released an apology letter to address the issue. In their apology, it was mentioned that it was never their intention “to copy art from other games.” The developers also admitted to now seeing the vivid resemblance betweenSuper Zoo StoryandStardew Valley,saying that “sometimes, as passionate developers, we get tunnel vision and it becomes harder to judge ourselves objectively.”
While the apology letter intends to rectify the issue, it still doesn’t shake off the feeling that the whole thing may be part of a marketing scheme. Fans ofStardew Valleyalso noticed this, especially after closelyexamining the pictures ofSuper Zoo Storyand how it looks exactly the same asStardew Valleyfrom the general color palette to the character and environment models. If they truly were inspired byStardew Valley, they have likely studied Barone’s work religiously to get a feel of which elements worked. But, if this is the case, shouldn’t they be more aware that the assets they were creating are near-exact replicas ofStardew Valley?
Not to mention, the entire Twitter account ofSuper Zoo Storyreeks ofStardew Valleyhashtags alongside other similar games such asStory of Seasons, Animal Crossing, andHarvest Moon.Of course, it wouldn’t take too much to figure out that these hashtags are meant to lead players who may be searching forStardew Valley,or any of the other aforementioned games, toSuper Zoo Story’sTwitter page. While no one can definitively knowSuper Zoo Story’strue intentions, the whole panning out of the issue does raise suspicions.
What ConcernedApe Has To Say About The Issue
At the moment, Barone is yet to share his thoughts on the apology letter sent out bySuper Zoo Story’sdevs. However, before the apology, Barone said that while he supports developers who take inspiration fromStardew Valley,he is not okay if it turns out that his assets were actually copied. Barone also clarified thatSuper Zoo Storyhas “taken it a little too far and that their attitude about it has rubbed me the wrong way too.”
It remains unclear what Barone intends to do now thatSuper Zoo Storyhas apologized for the similar assets. However, theStardew Valleydeveloper is likely either investigating the matter further before commenting again or choosing to remain quiet for now to not shine more light and attention onSuper Zoo Storyand its developers. As far as the community is concerned, it appears that there is some division though it appears that the majority of gamers are taking the side of Eric Barone.
Stardew Valleyis out now on Mobile, PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
