Ahead of Stardew Valley update 1.6, creator Eric Barone confirms a bug players suspected for years that makes it "faster to harvest left-to-right"

Stardew Valley creator Eric Barone has committed to drip-feeding a daily stream of individual patch notes in the days leading up to update 1.6's March 19 launch, and today's drop validates the long-standing conspiracy theory that it's actually faster to harvest crops from left to right.

If you're at all invested in Stardew Valley's harvesting meta, you've probably stumbled across a theory that's been floated for years claiming that it's demonstrably faster to harvest crops if you're moving from left to right as opposed to the other way around. Well, today, Barone confirmed that to be true, said it's just a bug, and revealed a fix is on the way in update 1.6.

"Fixed a bug where it was faster to harvest left-to-right than right-to-left," reads the latest in Barone's series of "non-spoilery" 1.6 patch notes.

While it's still early days, it seems the patch notes Barone is gradually revealing will vary somewhat in significance, as the one from yesterday is already being called a "game changer." Starting with Stardew Valley update 1.6, cutting down trees will yield saplings that you can plant to grow replacements at a faster rate depending on the quality of the fruit from the tree you chopped down.

As mentioned earlier, Stardew Valley's 1.6 big update is now just a week away, and it's swelled into a veritable expansion packed with so many changes that Barone has suggested you consider starting a whole new save file to get the full experience.

Here's everything we know about the Barone's Stardew Valley follow-up, Haunted Chocolatier.