Update: The listing for Cooking Mama: Cookstar is now sold out. A note at the top of the page states the following: “Check Back for Future On Sale Dates.”
The gravy train of a game series that has now turned into a crazy train of failed dishes, the latest Cooking Mama game has another step in its recipe of disaster. Cookstar’s release has transformed from a quiet debut to a befuddling mystery to rumors of all kinds. Now, Office Create (the company behind the IP) have thrown down their frying pan in an official statement.
Titled “Re: Unauthorized Release of Cooking Mama: Cookstar by Planet Entertainment LLC”, the tone is set and Office Create isn’t happy one bit:
“We would like to thank our fans and customers for their support over the years for the Cooking Mama franchise. As many of you know, Planet Entertainment LLC (Headquarters: Connecticut, USA; “Planet”) recently released “Cooking Mama: Cookstar” for sale in the U.S., Europe and Australia. This was an unauthorized release in breach of Planet’s contract with Office Create.
In August 2018, Office Create licensed Planet to develop the Cooking Mama: Cookstar game for Nintendo Switch™. Unfortunately, the quality of the game builds failed to meet the standards that our customers expect and deserve. 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.
We have also learned that Planet and/or its European distributor has been promoting an upcoming European release of a PS4™ version of Cooking Mama: Cookstar. Office Create has not licensed Planet (or any other entity) to create any Cooking Mama games for PS4™. Office Create itself has not been involved in the development of any PS4™ Cooking Mama game.
On March 30, 2020 Office Create notified Planet of its immediate termination of the license due to Planet’s intentional material breach of the license contract. Despite such notice, Planet continues to advertise and sell the unauthorized version of Cooking Mama: Cookstar on its website in willful violation of Office Create’s rights. To date, Planet has not confirmed the status of the unauthorized PS4™ version.
Office Create is evaluating all legal action against Planet to protect our customers, intellectual property rights and the Cooking Mama series. In the meantime, we thank our customers and loyal Cooking Mama fans for their continued support and sincerely regret any confusion and disappointment that has been caused by Planet’s conduct.”
That’s right, Cooking Mama: Cookstar for the Nintendo Switch is an “official bootleg”. The site that Office Create mentions in their statement, the shop page for Cooking Mama: Cookstar, has just opened fresh orders as of this writing, but with legal action from Office Create, that sale may be canceled.
We’ll continue to follow and report on this ongoing saga.
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Written by Jennifer Burch
Illustrator, designer, writer and big Nintendo geek, you can find Jennifer with an N3DS within reach 24/7. As the oldest of three, she has survived many Mario Party, Super Smash Bros. and Mario Kart sessions intact in addition to getting her brothers hooked on some really weird games. (Cubivore anyone?)
