Despite having loyal fans from all walks of life, the Cooking Mama series has not exactly been one to make headlines. That all changed recently with the release and subsequent removal of Cooking Mama: Cookstar led to rumors of cryptocurrency mining going on as the game played, which many players obviously found alarming.
Cooking Mama wasg pulled from the Nintendo eShop almost immediately after its release, and pulled from other retailers almost as quickly. In addition, players reported that the game made their Switch consoles run particularly hot, leading many to believe it was doing something malicious as they were playing it.
Now the mystery has been somewhat cleared up, as the developer and IP holder of Cooking Mama: Cookstar has released a statement that there is no cryptocurrency mining software in the game. While there were reports that some of the game's music had been directly ripped from YouTube without permission of the owners, this does not appear to be the primary reason the game was pulled either. Instead, the reason seems to have been that the publisher, Planet Entertainment, began distribution of the game without the permission of the IP holder, Office Create.
In a statement, Office Create elaborated it had licensed the Cooking Mama IP to Planet Entertainment LLC, which handed development of the game off to 1st Playable Productions. Eventually, Planet Entertainment submitted the product to Office Create, which stated that it "failed to meet the standards that our customers expect and deserve," and instructed Planet Entertainment to have the game fixed and updated.
Instead of fixing up the game and re-submitting it for Office Create's approval, Planet Entertainment began distributing the game. Sales of the game were unauthorized by the company that actually owns the Cooking Mama series and it seems that Office Create may be pursuing legal action in the near future.
Additionally, Planet Entertainment was advertising a PS4 version of Cooking Mama: Cookstar. According to Office Create, it did not license Planet to create a PS4 version of Cookstar or any other Cooking Mama game, and stating that Planet has not given a statement on the PS4 version's status. When Cookstar leaked months ago, nobody could have foreseen the strangeness that would accompany it.
1st Playable Productions is best known for child-centric games, a genre which Cookstar can fit into, although it has also appealed to a wider market. It is not currently known whether or not 1st Playable also developed the PS4 version, although it seems certain that version will not be around for this PS4 Spring Sale.
Cooking Mama: Cookstar was available for the Nintendo Switch
Source: Gematsu