Disney Dreamlight Valley dev discusses journey so far and hopes for 2025

We had the chance to talk to creative director Josh LaBelle all about Disney Dreamlight Valley and the journey so far, the learnings the team is taking forwards, and their hopes for the future. Whether you’ve just started unlocking the Disney Dreamlight Valley achievements or have been playing since Early Access, read on for more info about one of the best cozy games on Game Pass!”We’ve got a year ahead that really brings the Disney magic in a big way,” says creative director Josh LaBelleDisney Dreamlight Valley launched in early access in 2022, with a full launch in 2023Developer: GameloftGame Pass tier: Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, Xbox Game Pass Standard, PC Game PassDisney Dreamlight Valley was available via Early Access for over a year before launching in full in 2023. It’s had frequent updates ever since that initial Early Access launch, adding plenty of new content, and we wondered what LaBelle’s thoughts might be, looking back on the journey so far.”We’re proud to have brought fourteen updates full of new free content, from realms to characters to features and cosmetics, alongside two huge expansions bringing new worlds to the game,” he says. “The game is a huge team effort. It’s been wonderful to see the quality of new clothing, furniture, and environments get better and better each update, as well as finally seeing some long-awaited features arrive. It’s also been great to see the creativity that players have been able to unleash — from epic pumpkin farms to dazzling DreamSnaps submissions.”With all those content updates, we also wanted to know if the team’s vision of the game had changed much during development. “The core vision of giving Disney and life-sims fans a place to relax and reconnect with their inner child has not changed, but we have learned more about our players over the past couple of years, and that informs our choices,” LaBelle continues.”We hope those learnings show in our roadmap for 2025, and with the learnings we took from our first expansion pass to our second, The Storybook Vale. With The Storybook Vale, we went with more fantastical biomes and focused in on fairy tale and mythological aesthetics. We were pleased to see how players reacted to those shifts.”With the learnings we’ve made, we’ve got a year ahead that really brings the Disney magic in a big way, and I’m excited to see what players think.”Our interview also brought the good news that the Disney Dreamlight Valley devs currently have “no plans” to leave Xbox Game Pass. When it comes to the possibility of future Xbox achievements, it sounds like that’s as yet more up in the air. “I’m the kind of player who loves the feeling of accomplishment from checking off achievements and playing through games to hunt for more,” LaBelle says. “While we don’t have concrete plans to share around it right now, it’s always a possibility and the sort of thing that we definitely intend to explore more in the future.”As for that big year ahead — we’ve already spoken with LaBelle in more depth for our Disney Dreamlight Valley interview about Aladdin’s Tales of Agrabah Xbox update. That update arrives next week, on February 26, but LaBelle also dropped some hints about what else to expect in the year to come. What do you think? Have you been playing Disney Dreamlight Valley since its Early Access launch, or have you started your playthrough more recently? Let us know in the comments!



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