Farming sim Stardew Valley is well known for its soothing gameplay, beloved characters, pixelated designs, and now, esports. Creator ConcernedApe announced on August 21 the first ever Stardew Valley Cup, which will feature over 100 specially crafted challenges with a $40,000 prize pool for the game’s “most dedicated” players.
The Stardew Valley Cup will take place over Labor Day weekend, on September 4th, and will be available for viewing on Twitch and YouTube starting at 9 am PST. The competition will consist of 4 teams of 4 players that have been chosen by their impact and popularity in the Stardew Valley community. The teams will each have their own beach farm, and they will all compete at the same time to unlock achievements that have different point values. The challenges vary, including things like dating an NPC (10 points), eating a magic rock candy (10 points), reaching level 10 in any skill (20 points), or catching a fish with a fiberglass rod (5 points). There will also be surprise challenges announced while gameplay is underway, so the teams may want to adapt to accommodate those. Whatever team has the most points at the end of three hours will win, but all teams will walk away with prize money, supplied directly from ConcernedApe. More details were included in a video made by Zach Hartman (aka Unsurpassable Z), who will be commentating during the official stream.