Jam-packed Stardew Valley 1.6 update leads to new record 8 years after launch

The long-awaited Stardew Valley 1.6 update has seen players flocking back to the game in droves as it breaks its overall player count records a staggering eight years since its launch. 

Stardew Valley just passed its eight-year anniversary in February and it seems the game has received quite the birthday gift for both the devs and players with its hotly anticipated 1.6 update. 

With the update’s release on March 19, Stardew Valley has now broken a major milestone. Nearly a decade into its lifespan, it’s total concurrent player count peak has now been shattered.

Steam Charts

According to Steam Charts and Steamdb, on the release of update 1.6, Stardew Valley hit its largest peak ever in player count. Roughly 139,965 – 140,428 concurrent players were tracked playing the game at its peak right after the update. 

And as of writing, the counts seem to only be rising, with Stardew Valley’s numbers on Steam Charts still increasing as time goes by.

Prior to Stardew Valley’s 1.6 update, the game’s peak came in January 2021, at 94,879 players. This means the 1.6 update has increased its peak player record by a jaw-dropping 147% and rising. 

But perhaps this shouldn’t come as a surprise for Stardew fans as the update had been teased for many months by its solo developer Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone. From individual features to highly-requested mechanic changes, ConcernedApe was teasing the mega-sized patch for months on end through his personal Twitter account.

The update brought with it a dizzying amount of new content as well, from new festivals to a new mastery system, farm types, maps, and more, to the point of Starder Valey now feeling like a new game again. 

Add in the concerning ability to let players drink mayo in the game, perhaps it may be time to check out Stardew Valley again if you haven’t already.