As a fan of the old Harvest Moon games, I remember excitingly picking up Stardew Valley for my PC when it first launched, before buying it again when it made its PlayStation debut, and then once more when it came to Switch! 

The Nintendo Switch version is where I’ve spent most of my time playing, racking up hundreds of hours on my beloved farm while lying on the sofa or taking the train to work. (Mainly lying on the sofa.)

I knew it had been a long time since Stardew Valley first launched, but didn’t realise exactly how long until developer ConcernedApe revealed an interest fact on X.

READ MORE: Top 5 best Cozy Games and Stardew Valley isn’t number 1

To coincide with the announcement of a new update for Nintendo Switch, ConcernedApe revealed that Stardew Valley has just celebrated a big anniversary.

“The switch patch 1.6.15.1 should be available within a few hours,” reads a recent Stardew tweet.

“Also, thank you for playing Stardew Valley for 9 years (today is the anniversary). I appreciate everyone who enjoys the game, whether you share that online or just feel it in your heart.”

Indeed, as you can see from the tweet, Stardew Valley has just turned nine, having launched back in February 2016.

This means next year is the milestone tenth anniversary of the release of Stardew Valley, so hopefully we get some special gifts for our farms.

As for the Nintendo Switch patch, the new update primarily makes bug fixes and minor gameplay improvements.

This includes performance optimisations to make the game run smoother on Nintendo Switch, as well as the addition of new Easter eggs.

Developer ConcernedApe has also added the Junimo bundle button to fridge and mini-fridge UIs.

That’s on top of bug fixes for annoying issues such as game crashes and error messages, as well as losing items when passing out.

In a follow-up tweet, ConcernedApe added a new fix for the patch notes that was previously unlisted.

“An addition to the Switch patch notes I posted yesterday: Fixed the bug where every gift was considered a “loved” gift,” reads the latest tweet.