Cooking Mama: Cookstar pulled after court rules it was unauthorized

The strange — but very serious — dispute between the publisher of Cooking Mama: CookstarThe company which holds intellectual property rights for Cooking Mama has seen a change in its fortunes. The owner, Japanese publisher Office Create, claimed that 2020’s Mama, CookingYou can find Cookstar here was an unauthorized project — and the International Court of Arbitration has agreed, clearing the way for Office Create to have the game removed from digital and retail storefronts.

It’s a messy complaint, but the bottom line to players is that the first console edition of Cooking Mama since 2008 can be removed from sale because Connecticut-based publisher Planet Entertainment were not authorized to release the game. Planet Entertainment is liable for more than $20.9million in profit it received from Office Create. Cooking Mama: Cookstar’s sales on PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch.

Planet Entertainment also owes another $2.37 million to cover milestone payments the arbitrator said it must return and Office Create’s legal fees. Planet Entertainment will also have to return $2.37 million for milestone payments and Office Create’s legal fees. Finally, the judgment also says Planet Entertainment must “refrain from passing off, inducing, or enabling others to sell or pass off any product as a Cooking Mama product” unless that product is made or licensed by Office Create itself.

“Office Create is undertaking all necessary steps to ensure that the infringing ‘Cooking Mama: Cookstar’ video games (digital and physical copies) are removed from the market,” the publisher said Thursday in a statement published on its website.

This article was published at the time of publication. Cooking Mama: Cookstar was not listed at either the Nintendo store or the PlayStation Store (apparently it was only briefly available on Nintendo’s storefront back in 2020). GameStop did not have a listing, but Amazon does.

Planet Entertainment released a fascinating game called Yum Yum Cookstar for Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4, through those consoles’ storefronts, on Oct. 4.

As of 2020 Cooking Mama: CookstarOffice Create stopped Planet Entertainment from launching the game as they were about to do so. Planet Entertainment instead launched the game as it was, and Office Create subsequently terminated its licensing deal with the company for “intentional material breach of the license contact.”

Planet Entertainment stated at the time that it had full rights to publish. Cooking Mama: Cookstar and that Office Create had demanded changes that were “outside the scope of [the] agreement and game design.”

Polygon reached out to Planet Entertainment in order for comments. We will keep this article updated with any new information.