What’s Up With This Cooking Mama Drama
The Cooking Mama series has a long history with Nintendo. There have been 14 Cooking Mama games in the series on Nintendo devices in as many years. So it was no surprise when Cooking Mama Cookstar was announced for the Nintendo Switch in 2019. Unfortunately, there has been a confusing array of catastrophes surrounding the release of the game. Leaving the IP owner of the franchise to attempt to halt sales of the game and making Cooking Mama Cookstar one of the most sought after Switch games for collectors.
Timeline of Events
August 2018
Office Create agrees to a licensing agreement with Planet Digital Partners. Planet Digital Partners is allowed to publish a game under the Cooking Mama IP to a developer. Planet Digital Partners’ previous releases include the Bass Pro Shop and Cabelas games.
February 13th, 2019
Planet Digital Partners announces Cooking Mama Cookstar. The game “will be the first game to integrate blockchain technology on major consoles.” As well as it will be the first game to feature a full vegetarian mode. What that means is very unclear. The whole bitcoin idea never fully flushes out on exactly how that will work.
Sometime in 2019
IP owner Office Create meets with publisher Planet Digital Partners. Office Create finds that the scope of the game does not meet the agreement between the IP owner (Office Create) and the publisher (Planet Digital Partners). Office Create submits several changes required to meet the agreement that Planet Digital Partners must adhere to for release. Planet Digital Partners ignores these change requests.
March 30th, 2020
Office Create becomes aware of a pending Cooking Mama Cookstar release on the Nintendo Switch eShop and attempts to cancel the project. Along with the Nintendo version of the game, Planet Digital Partners announces a future PS4 version. Office Create attempts to cancel the PS4 release as well.
March 31st, 2020
Cooking Mama Cookstar releases on the Nintendo eShop and physical copies of the game hit store shelves. Word starts to circulate that the game contains a bitcoin mining tool and overheats Nintendo Switch consoles.
April 1st, 2020
The Cooking Mama Cookstar eShop release disappears from the digital storefront. Large chain stores reclaim physical copies of the release.
April 15th, 2020
Office Create releases a statement explaining the removal of Cooking Mama Cookstar from the eShop.
Planet Digital Partners releases a statement as well, admitting that they did have disagreements about the scope of the game. Doubling down that they have the full legal right to release the game.
As this situation continues to unfold we will continue to keep you updated on the latest information. As this wild story continues to unfold.
