"Stardew Valley" has reached a new milestone now that the charming farm sim has made it to the Nintendo Switch. Even though the game is over a year old and became available on the Switch only in October of last year, it still managed to beat out the competition and landed the top spot as the most downloaded Switch title of 2017.
This new bit of information comes straight from the Nintendo website which placed "Stardew Valley" as the top downloaded game worldwide on the Switch, beating out major competitors like "Minecraft," "Rocket League," and "Sonic Mania."
One interesting thing to keep in mind is that it seems the game's immense success on the portable platform was completely carried by the audience outside of Japan. On a different chart that lists the top domestic numbers for the Switch, "Stardew Valley" is not even in the Top 30, let alone the Top 10.
It should be noted that these rankings only include titles that are digital-only, meaning anything that had a physical release will not be ranked, hence the lack of "Super Mario Odyssey" and "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild."
It is great to see the success of indie games like this, especially in a time when AAA games seem to come out every other month. Those who picked up the game on the Switch have a lot to look forward to as well since some major updates are scheduled to arrive for the game soon. Earlier this month, Eric Barone, the creator of "Stardew Valley," tweeted an image teasing the much-anticipated multiplayer update for the game.
"It still needs some work, but the underlying network code is solid," he said, adding, "Being in the same room and yelling at each other about what to do next, or if anyone has any stone, is great fun."
He then said in a follow-up tweet that work on all the upcoming single-player content has been finished and he is now focusing all of his efforts to getting the multiplayer update ready.
