Skip to main content

Cooking Mama: Cookstar controversy takes an ugly turn

The dramatic saga around the Cooking Mama: Cookstar just got a little more heated, as publisher Planet Entertainment and rights-holder Office Create both took their grievances public — with the latter threatening legal action.

The situation began when Cooking Mama: Cookstar, which was released in late March for Nintendo Switch, was unexpectedly pulled from Nintendo’s eShop and physical copies disappeared from store shelves. The move immediately sparked rumors, including a theory that the game was secretly mining currency using players’ consoles.

Planet Entertainment quickly shot that rumor down.

But the drama escalated on Wednesday, April 15, when Office Create published a statement saying that the company had rejected Planet Entertainment’s build of the game due to “deficiencies affecting the overall feel, quality and content of the game.”

Office Create slammed the game’s release as “unauthorized.”

“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,” Office Create said in its statement.

The rights-holder disavowed a supposed PS4 version of the game that it claimed was being promoted for launch in Europe.

Office Create added the company is “evaluating all legal action against Planet to protect our customers, intellectual property rights and the Cooking Mama series.”

Planet Entertainment took to Twitter to tell its side of the story, saying that Office Create had approved the game design in 2019, and that the published version “followed the exact approved design.”

“Unfortunately creative differences arose as Cooking Mama Cookstar was near completion that were outside the scope of our agreement and the game design approved by office create,” Planet Create said, adding that it is “fully within its rights to publish Cooking Mama Cookstar.”

The game remains unavailable for purchase.

Editors' Recommendations

Will Nicol
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Will Nicol is a Senior Writer at Digital Trends. He covers a variety of subjects, particularly emerging technologies, movies…
Animal Crossing won’t take away your DLC items if you ditch Switch Online
Key art for Animal Crossing Happy Home Paradise.

Nintendo has clarified some details about the upcoming Animal Crossing: New Horizons -- Happy Home Paradise DLC and how it interacts with Nintendo Online memberships. In a statement sent to Digital Trends, Nintendo of America confirms that players will be able to keep items they earned through the DLC, even if they cancel their Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack membership. However, they will not be able to play the DLC once they unsubscribe from the service.

According to Nintendo, players will need an active Expansion Pack membership to play the DLC. The archipelago will become inactive if players unsubscribe and do not own a copy of the DLC. Nintendo confirms that save data will still remain stored on the console. So if a player unsubscribes, they will not lose their save data and will be able to resume where they left off if they buy the DLC or resubscribe.

Read more
Kirby and the Forgotten Land takes the series back to 3D
Kirby lays on the beach in Kirby and the Forgotten Lands.

A new Kirby title is coming to the Nintendo Switch in 2022. Kirby and the Forgotten Land was a surprise announcement by Nintendo at today's Direct event, especially since the company stated that the stream would focus on games launching in winter 2021.

Kirby and the Forgotten Land – Announcement Trailer – Nintendo Switch

Read more
Upcoming blue Nintendo Switch Lite model takes color cues from GameCube
New blue Nintendo Switch Lite.

Nintendo has announced a new addition to the Switch Lite family, It comes in a "fresh" new blue color and will be available for $200 upon its release on May 21, 2021, just like the other Switch Lite systems.

The Switch Lite system is Nintendo's cheaper, handheld-only console that does not dock to a TV like the original Switch. It comes in a variety of colors including gray, pink, yellow, and turquoise. This new shade of blue, which harks back to the GameCube's color, was revealed on the official Nintendo Twitter account.

Read more