Cooking Mama: Cookstar drama thickens as publisher asserts right to publish

The Twitter account for Cooking Mama: Cookstar was updated today with a statement from publisher Planet Entertainment defending the company's right to publish the game, which was released on Switch last month and quickly pulled from stores.

It's a significant statement given that Cooking Mama license holder Office Create threatened legal action this morning, claiming that Planet's decision to make Cookstar available for sale on the eShop and at retail was an "unauthorized release in breach of Planet's contract."

Office alleges that Planet was licensed to develop (with the help of NY game dev 1st Playable) and publish Cookstar for the Switch, but that during development Planet failed its contractual obligation to address and correct a number of problems Office had with builds of the game.

Planet then went ahead and released the game without Office's approval, which Office claims caused it to revoke Planet's license on March 30th due to breach of contract. However, Planet Entertainment currently still sells (now unauthorized) copies of the game via its website, and in its statement today appears to sidestep and brush off Office Create's allegations.

"Office Create, the rights holder to Cooking Mama, approved a detailed game design in 2019. 1st Playable the game developer and Planet followed the exact approved design," reads an excerpt of Planet's statement.

"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. By contract, Planet is fully within its rights to publish Cooking Mama Cookstar. There is no active litigation or ruling that prevents Planet from publishing the game."