Things Are Getting Worse For Cooking Mama: Cookstar

Cooking Mama: Cookstar, an adorable cooking simulator, has found itself at the center of another scandal. This time, the game is the subject of a possible legal battle between the Office Create, the IP holders of the Cooking Mama franchise, and Planet Entertainment, the company that published the latest installment of the series. Basically, Office Create alleges that Planet Entertainment was told to fix numerous problems with the game before releasing it to the public. Instead of making the required adjustments, Planet Entertainment went ahead and released a subpar product, sullying the brand name.

Office Create explained the issue in a statement released on its official website, which read, "Unfortunately, the quality of the game builds failed to meet the standards that our customers expect and deserve. Office Create rejected a wide range of deficiencies affecting the overall feel, quality and content of the game. Yet, despite being contractually obligated to correct the identified deficiencies and resubmit the corrected game for Office Create's approval, Planet proceeded to release Cooking Mama: Cookstar without addressing all of the rejections and without Office Create's approval."

This would seem to be in line with the numerous problems we've heard regarding Cooking Mama: Cookstar. As reported previously, the game will not run unless your Switch is connected to the internet. Not only that, but the game is a massive drain on the console's battery power, essentially requiring anyone who wishes to play the game to keep their system plugged in. These were seen to be massive performance issues, but there were rumors that something much worse was going on behind the scenes of the game.

Thanks to some interesting wording in a 2019 press release from Planet, people actually believed that Cooking Mama: Cookstar was being used to mine cryptocurrency data or otherwise transfer funds on the down-low. The press release referred to Cookstar as being "the first game to integrate blockchain technology on major consoles." Considering blockchain tech is used by cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, people were understandably concerned by its alleged presence in a cutesy cooking simulator.

It later turned out that the game did not use blockchain technology and that some of the internet connectivity issues had been fixed for some users' copies of the game. Regardless, it was clear that Cooking Mama: Cookstar was a game with major problems. 

One of the developers of the game recently spoke to ScreenRant regarding the blockchain allegations. In a statement that doesn't necessarily inspire confidence in Planet Entertainment's leadership, they said, "The statement about crypto-currency was all buzz words. The head of planet entertainment knows very little about these things... he just put some fancy language to get potential investors who like that stuff."

When your defense is that you're leadership doesn't know what they're talking about, it's not really a defense that makes people feel any better. No wonder that developer wished to remain anonymous.

While Office Create exercised its right to end its relationship with Planet Entertainment and Cooking Mama: Cookstar has been removed from the Nintendo eShop, the game is still being sold through other channels. Office Create's statement notes, "On March 30, 2020 Office Create notified Planet of its immediate termination of the license due to Planet's intentional material breach of the license contract. Despite such notice, Planet continues to advertise and sell the unauthorized version of Cooking Mama: Cookstar on its website in willful violation of Office Create's rights."

In addition, Office Create states that Planet Entertainment's current plans to release Cooking Mama: Cookstar for the PlayStation 4 in Europe are entirely unsanctioned by the IP holders. Not only did Office Create not authorize the release of a PlayStation 4 port, but the company was not included in the development process for the game in any way. This is in clear violation of Planet Entertainment's original deal with Office Create. With all of these violations stacking up, Office Create is looking into its options.

The statement concludes, "Office Create is evaluating all legal action against Planet to protect our customers, intellectual property rights and the Cooking Mama series. In the meantime, we thank our customers and loyal Cooking Mama fans for their continued support and sincerely regret any confusion and disappointment that has been caused by Planet's conduct."

Who would have thought that some of the cutest games on the market could be involved in so much drama? Earlier this week, Animal Crossing: New Horizons found itself at the center of a political uprising and was banned in China. What's next? Has anyone checked to see if Pikachu is up to no good?