Cooking Mama Cookstar Cryptomining Rumor

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Overview

Cooking Mama: Cookstar Cryptomining Rumor refers to disproven allegations that the 2020 game Cooking Mama: Cookstar contains cryptocurrency mining software that deteriorates Nintendo Switch consoles it is installed on. The allegations were spawned by a 4chan's /v/ post and received viral spread on Twitter in early April 2020.

Background

On March 26th, 2020, Cooking Mama: Cookstar, the sixth main installment in the cooking simulation video game series Cooking Mama, was officially released^[1] by Cooking Mama Limited for the Nintendo Switch console. On April 3rd, 2020, IGN^[2] reported that despite being released, the game was not available in the Nintendo eShop in the United States and Europe, while physical copies of the game could only be found in limited locations and as offers from third-party sellers on Amazon.

On April 4th, 2020, in a /v/^[3] thread dedicated to the game not being available despite the release, an anonymous 4chan user wrote that the game "might have a [cryptocurrency] miner built in," citing a "hotshot in the Switch homebrew scene" (post shown below). The thread received over 530 replies, with the post gaining 17 replies.

Developments

On April 5th, 2020, the rumor of Cooking Mama: Cookstar having cryptomining code built in reached Twitter. On that day, Twitter^[4] user @Gay_Furby posted the earliest known viral post about the claims (shown below, left), with the tweet gaining over 2,900 retweets and 9,700 likes; later on the same day Twitter^[5] user @MorshuMmm posted a screenshot of a Discord message that received over 9,500 retweets and 21,900 likes (shown below, right).

Later on the same day, several Twitter users, including @itssimontime^[6] and @Wunkolo,^[7] stated that the game analysis showed no indication that the game contains malicious code (posts shown below, left and center). Later on the same day, game developer the official Twitter account for the game stated^[8] that despite the developers previously exploring options for implementation of blockchain technology into the game, the game did not use crypto-based technology (post shown below, right).

Online Reactions

Starting on April 5th, multiple Twitter users made jokes about the rumor, with some users also posting fanart referencing the allegations (example posts shown below). On the same day, an inquiry about the allegations was posted in /r/OutOfTheLoop subreddit.^[9]

On April 5th, 2020, YouTuber^[10] videogamedunkey posted a video about the controversy. The video accumulated over 1.1 million views in 14 hours.