Cooking Mama: Cookstar developer 1st Playable has denied accusations that the Nintendo Switch game was being used for cryptocurrency mining, with the studio saying “with certainty” that there is “no cryptocurrency or data collection or blockchain or anything else shady in the code.”
This follows wild rumors that the latest Cooking Mama game featuring a cryptominer, with it farming cryptocurrency without the knowledge of its players. The game being pulled from the US eShop shortly after being published added fuel to the fire, with many speculating its removal was the result of Nintendo learning of this cryptominer.
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The rumor stemmed from a press release published back in 2019, which stated that Cooking Mama: Cookstar would be “the first game to integrate blockchain technology on major consoles.” The press release stated that publisher Planet Digital was working with the technology, with a quote from the company’s president Steve Grossman suggesting that aspects of the game had been put “on-chain.”
However, dataminer Simon Time claimed that he had debunked these accusations, with him searching through the game’s files and reportedly finding “no cryptominer/blockchain stuff anywhere”:
I keep seeing rumours about there being a cryptominer in Cooking Mama: Cookstar, and due to its inclusion, it was pulled from the eShop.
After some RE work, I can safely say there is no cryptominer/blockchain stuff anywhere within Cooking Mama: Cookstar's code.— Simon Aarons (@ItsSimonTime) April 5, 2020
After 1st Playable also denied the presence of blockchain technology in Cooking Mama: Cookstar, the studio was then asked to respond to the press release. The company claimed that “blockchain was never brought up” to the developers, and that it assumed the press release was hypothetical “like most releases about blockchain are.”
This is a release from Feb 2019, and we presume hypothetical like most releases about blockchain are. Blockchain was never brought up to us developers, and we were entertained to hear about in late 2019. Not happening anytime soon.
— 1st Playable (@1stPlayable) April 5, 2020
So why was the game pulled from the eShop in the first place? Though no clear reasoning was divulged by 1st Playable, the company said that it was “frustrated as everyone with the distribution situation,” suggesting that these are internal issues that have caused the game to be removed from the Switch’s online store.
Yes! As per the box and the credits. We’re proud of the game, and frustrated as everyone with the distribution situation. But copies are out there and we’re loving the shares!
— 1st Playable (@1stPlayable) April 5, 2020
The developer also added that rumors the game would overheat Switch consoles and drain their battery life were untrue, stating that there are “no technical issues with the game.”
It remains to be seen if Cooking Mama: Cookstar will return to the Nintendo Switch eShop and if its distribution issues will be ironed out, but at the very least, it seems like the accusations leveled against the game and its developers have now been quashed.
