One developer has spoken up about the rumors surround Cooking Mama: Cookstar. Recently, the game had launched on the Nintendo Switch eShop but was quickly pulled without any explanation, leaving many players who had been anticipating the title feeling confused. Later, rumors began to circulate that Cooking Mama: Cookstar was mining cryptocurrency, including allegations that running the game would cause people's Switch consoles to overheat.
Cooking Mama: Cookstar would have been the first game in the Cooking Mama franchise to appear on the Nintendo Switch, with the last five games in the series being released on the Nintendo DS and, before that, the Nintendo Wii. The game has yet to reappear on the Nintendo eShop and, according to one developer, it may not return at all.
Recently, Screen Rant was contacted by a member of the Cooking Mama: Cookstar development team who wanted to speak about the current controversy surrounding the game. The developer, who wishes to remain anonymous, dismissed the rumors of cryptocurrency mining:
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. As for the crashes/ overheating. That would be because the game is made in unity. By many people working on their first game... it's not the best product but it made it through several vigorous reviews by nintendo and Sony. There is no way crypto-mining stuff could get through those tests. I doubt anyone at 1p would even be able to make such a thing.
The developer also revealed the real reason Cooking Mama: Cookstar was pulled from the Nintendo eShop, stating "There is a legal battle between the publisher, planet entertainment and the ip holder, office create." According to the developer, this is because "planet entertainment released the game against a request by office create to keep polishing the game, or perhaps even canceling it." There was clearly a lack of communication between the publisher and the development team, as our source describes this kind of behavior as "pretty standard."
At one point the japanese official create clients came to oversee development. An argument started and the clients were told to go home if they weren't being "constuctive". Once they found out that planet entertainment released the game, they used their nintendo contacts to pull it from the e-shop and stop production of cartridges.
Overall, everyone at 1p loves the cooking mama franchise and did their best to make the best product considering the interference from the higher ups. I think the game is far from perfect, but would have done fine without the publishers stumbling so constantly..."
When asked about whether the game was released without letting the team know ahead of time, the developer replied, "It's hard to say. We were told the game was coming out in March. That's all anyone knew. The boss at 1p, tobi, keeps that kind of thing to herself mostly stating she doesn't want to stress us with the details... Advertising was blocked by office create too. There were youtube ads, websites, and even tik tok ads that never came out." The future of Cooking Mama: Cookstar remains uncertain, as the developer ended by saying "As I understand planet entertainment is sueing office create having it removed for money lost. It's hard to say if it will ever be released properly."
It's a shame Cooking Mama: Cookstar may never see a proper release, especially after hearing about how the developers worked so hard only to have their product pushed into the public eye before it was completed. It is nice to put the rumors of cryptocurrency mining to rest, and hopefully, all the effort put forth by these developers will eventually see the light of day, but only after the game has been completed and Cooking Mama: Cookstar no longer runs the risk of overheating Nintendo Switch consoles.