Stardew Valley’s 1.5 update was a really big deal when it arrived on PC in late 2020. It was more than just a conventional update, it was “the full expansion I’ve always wanted (opens in new tab)said our very own Stardew farmer Lauren Morton, featuring an all-new beach farm, a range of new customization options, and the biggest surprise of all, an all-new explorable area called Ginger Island. Now, more than two years later, that update has finally arrived for the mobile versions of the game.
“The mobile 1.5 update has been submitted for iOS and Android and will be rolling out to users in the coming days,” said Stardew Valley solo developer Eric Barone. tweeted (opens in new tab) in the early hours of January 7. “The update should already be available on Android for some.”
Unfortunately, the release of the 1.5 update on mobile hasn’t gone entirely smoothly. Shortly after, users started reporting various types of issues including too small UI, toolbar issues, and most importantly, crashing issues. A patch (opens in new tab) to fix the major issues was submitted shortly after the 1.5 update itself.
Despite the problems, Barone did his best to reassure everyone that the situation was not permanent.
Barone clearly has his hands full tackling issues with Stardew Valley 1.5 on mobile, but it’s a testament to his relationship with players that while his Twitter feed is full of issues and requests for help, everyone involved seems kind, understanding and patient : There is no rude demand or death threat anywhere to be seen. Barone said the next full patch for Stardew Valley 1.5 on mobile should be out January 10, but some issues, such as the minor UI issues, will take longer to fix as he said he needs to “prioritize game-breaking bugs and crashes (opens in new tab).”
Speaking of priorities, there may be some hope that the launch of the 1.5 update for mobile platforms will finally give Barone a chance to turn his attention to his new project, Cursed chocolatier (opens in new tab). And it could! But maybe not. Barone said in November 2022 that the 1.5 update was not the end of the story (opens in new tab) for Stardew Valley, and it looks like that will be the case for the mobile version as well.
One benefit of this new rewrite of the app is that it should be a lot easier to update mobile in the future (before 1.6 and who knows…).January 7, 2023
“1.5 mobile is, to some extent, an entirely new rewrite of the mobile app,” Barone tweeted shortly after the update was submitted for approval. This was necessary for a number of reasons, but means there could be new bugs.
“An advantage of this new rewrite of the app is that it should be a lot easier to update mobile in the future (before 1.6 and who knows…)”
Barone confirmed in a later tweet that there was “no plans (opens in new tab)for multiplayer on mobile, but I wouldn’t quite count it out: I suspect he’ll be working on Stardew Valley for a long time, on all platforms.