Stardew Valley is credited for reviving the farming simulator franchise that was pioneered by the Harvest Moon franchise. What made the game even more impressive is that it was made solely by developer Eric Barone aka ConcenedApe. Given the critical acclaim Stardew Valley received 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 off Stardew Valley. A game called Super Zoo Story recently released preview images of its early build, and players immediately noticed the resemblance to Stardew Valley. Given all the attention the issue has brought to both games, particularly to Super Zoo Story, one can't help but wonder whether the whole fiasco was intentional.
Why The Whole Stardew Valley-Super Zoo Story Fiasco May Not Be an Accident
To be fair, it is worth mentioning that the developers of Super Zoo Story have 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 between Super Zoo Story and Stardew 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 of Stardew Valley also noticed this, especially after closely examining the pictures of Super Zoo Story and how it looks exactly the same as Stardew Valley from the general color palette to the character and environment models. If they truly were inspired by Stardew 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 of Stardew Valley?
Not to mention, the entire Twitter account of Super Zoo Story reeks of Stardew Valley hashtags alongside other similar games such as Story of Seasons, Animal Crossing, and Harvest Moon. Of course, it wouldn't take too much to figure out that these hashtags are meant to lead players who may be searching for Stardew Valley, or any of the other aforementioned games, to Super Zoo Story's Twitter page. While no one can definitively know Super Zoo Story's true 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 by Super Zoo Story's devs. However, before the apology, Barone said that while he supports developers who take inspiration from Stardew Valley, he is not okay if it turns out that his assets were actually copied. Barone also clarified that Super Zoo Story has "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 that Super Zoo Story has apologized for the similar assets. However, the Stardew Valley developer is likely either investigating the matter further before commenting again or choosing to remain quiet for now to not shine more light and attention on Super Zoo Story and 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 Valley is out now on Mobile, PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.