Cooking Mama whips up a controversy
Creators and new publisher don’t see eye to eye.
The creators and rights holders of the Cooking Mama franchise, Office Create Corp (formerly Cooking Mama Ltd and, curiously, Office Create before that) are crying foul when it comes to the release of Cooking Mama: Cookstar on Nintendo Switch, calling it an “unauthorized release”.
“Unfortunately, the quality of the game builds failed to meet the standards that our customers expect and deserve,” the release reads. ” 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.” These allegations have not been tested in court.
The announcement comes after IGN investigated the surprise disappearance of the game from digital platforms and from retailers. Rumours swirled while the game remained at some retailers–including, for a time, EB Games Canada–with some claiming the game was attempting to “mine” cryptocurrency. That was swiftly debunked but the scent of foul play hung in the air. The publisher, Planet Entertainment, even created a Shopify page to try and peddle the product directly to consumers.
For their part, Planet asserts they have done no wrong, issuing a statement of their own.
“By contract, Planet is fully within its rights to publish Cooking Mama Cookstar” the company tweeted. No such release was posted to the company’s news page which remains totally blank.
It is unclear if and when Cooking Mama: Cookstar will release on the Nintendo eshop. Physical copies are available for purchase–with some available on re-sellers at exorbitant prices–and it’s likely this will become a collector’s item in years to come for all the wrong reasons.
