The Wording of Nintendo’s Stardew Valley Multiplayer Announcement Is Important

Always remember that wording is key.

Earlier today, Nintendo of America tweeted that indie darling Stardew Valley would finally be getting the multiplayer features the fanbase has been clamoring for since day one…but it will be out on the Nintendo Switch first.

Any Stardew Valley fan’s first reaction should be excitement over multiplayer finally coming to ConcernedApe’s farming RPG, but some people aren’t fully reading the tweet and instead are up in arms about the Switch getting multiplayer exclusively. That is not the case.

Let’s read the tweet, shall we?

Stardew Valley is coming to #NintendoSwitch, and will be the first console to support the new multiplayer feature. Look for it in 2017! pic.twitter.com/3dYNmwGPFA

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) February 28, 2017

Let’s zoom in a bit:

And in case you missed it, let’s do it again:

Notice the tweet doesn’t say platform, and it definitely doesn’t say the word “exclusive” anywhere in there. Nope, it’s just “first console” — and that could mean a couple of things:

1. Either the Nintendo Switch will in fact be the very first platform Stardew Valley gets multiplayer on
2. The PC version will be receiving it at any point in time before, after, or even simultaneously

The announcement by no means equates to the game only getting multiplayer on the Switch, and the use of the word “console” over “platform” may be purposefully vague.

Think of those “Only on PlayStation” blurbs on PlayStation 4 games that are also coming out on PC. It’s all about the semantics, and right now Nintendo wants you and everyone else to go out and buy a Switch. They have no reason to mention PC, and probably a legal reason to use the word “console” over “platform”.

It may be a while until we hear something concrete about the PC version’s multiplayer update from ConcernedApe himself, but for now the PC Stardew Valley community needs to chill out a bit and not get too wrapped up in Nintendo’s tweet. Take it as good news that the multiplayer update is real and is actually coming out this year, not as a slight against the game’s original playerbase.