'I shouldn’t have announced the game so early,' Eric Barone admits about Haunted Chocolatier, says he had his reasons for doing so but then doesn't tell us what they were: 'The only thing that really matters is that I keep making progress on the game'

Good news: Eric Barone says in his latest Haunted Chocolatier update that he's "been very productive lately" on the game. Bad news: Release date? Haha, no.

Okay, it's not really "bad news" in the way of all the actual bad news out there, and I'm not sure it even counts as mildly disappointing: Barone's been very up-front about taking his time with Haunted Chocolatier, and also that he remains deeply invested in Stardew Valley, the monstrously successful farm-life sim that's still drawing huge player numbers a decade after release.

There's not much said about the status of Haunted Chocolatier in this update, except that Barone is "still working like always," but he does "debunk a few myths and false assumptions" he's seen floating around: Haunted Chocolatier will not be abandoned and incorporated into Stardew Valley, he is not using Stardew Valley updates to test ideas for Haunted Chocolatier, he's not still futzing around with Stardew Valley because he's burned out on Haunted Chocolatier, and no, he did not say that Haunted Chocolatier won't be out until 2030.

"I was asked in 2025 if it would come out within the next five years, and I said 'I hope so'," Barone wrote. "This is very different than saying 'it’s coming out in 2030.' The bottom line is, I don’t want to give a release date. The game will come out when it’s done."

What I find most interesting in the post, though, is a little throwaway line leading up to all that. After acknowledging that "it's taking a while to finish" Haunted Chocolatier, Barone writes, "I know, I know, I shouldn’t have announced the game so early. But I had my reasons."

And then he proceeds to say nothing further on the matter. I get that it's maybe not my business but I'm also naturally curious (and actually, it kind of is my business, in a very literal sense), and since he's the one who put it out there in the first place, I'm just going to say it: Tell us the reasons, Eric!

I'm not going to hold my breath on that, and I'm also not going to hold my breath on Haunted Chocolatier. Which is fine: As Barone concluded, "the only thing that really matters is that I keep making progress on the game and release it," and that will happen when it's ready.

Alongside Haunted Chocolatier, Barone is also working on Stardew Valley's 1.7 update. That's looking like it might be another big one, but he's trying to be less hands-on with it than he has with past updates. Alas, there's still no release date on that yet, either.