What's Cooking? - Mama Recipes is a casual cooking simulation game centered on recipe discovery and restaurant management. It targets "cozy" gamers with its stress-free atmosphere and pet mechanics (Shiba Inu). The core differentiator is its massive library of 1,000+ recipes and a unique card-flipping mini-game for ingredient sourcing. While it holds a near-perfect 4.9-star rating, the app is currently in a "maintenance mode" state, with no updates since July 2021, leading to significant user complaints regarding content stagnation.
The App DNA
What makes this app unique?
For Casual gamers and cooking simulation enthusiasts who enjoy progression-based management games and collection mechanics.
What does it look like?
Key features
Combine ingredients to discover and cook over 1000 unique recipes
Win common, rare, or epic ingredients through a card-flipping mini-game
Level up the chef and master 100 levels for each ingredient
How much does it cost?
Monetization relies on using in-game currency to bypass the grind of ingredient collection and accelerate kitchen upgrades.
Velocity
Dormant developmentShow more...
The app has not received a version update in over 57 months. With no release notes provided for the final version and a complete lack of activity since 2021, the development momentum is classified as zombie. There is no evidence of ongoing feature development or maintenance.
Who built it?
PIXIO
12 apps tracked · Games
Summoner's Greed: Idle TD Hero
Tap Tap Trillionaire : Money!
Art Inc. - Collection Clicker
God of World
Tap Tap Titan - Evil Clicker
Art Inc. 2: Idle Museum
Game of Earth: Build Your City
Super Run Adventure: Pets Jump
Theme Park Island
Idle Mafia Empire: Mob Cartel
Plinko Party: Coin Raid MasterUser Sentiment
What do users think recently?
Review voice lately leans excited. Users appreciate cute & cozy aesthetics and engaging pet mechanics, but report content stagnation.
How are ratings & reviews evolving?
What users say, by theme
- Cute & Cozy Aesthetics
- Engaging Pet Mechanics
Unlock 1 more frustration theme, each backed by review evidence.
Access the full report for freeCompetition
Competitive landscape for What's Cooking? - Mama Recipes
How's the Games market?
The rivals identified
By 99Games
Star Chef 2 is the most direct scale-equivalent rival (28k vs 6k reviews) that maintains a modern live-ops cadence this app currently lacks.
- Social 'Chef Teams' and global tournaments provide a competitive multiplayer layer missing from this app's solo experience.
- Integrated 'Backyard Farming' mechanic allows players to grow their own ingredients, adding a supply-chain management layer to the core cooking loop.
- High-frequency Live Ops (3 updates in 6 months) introduces seasonal decor and limited-time recipes to prevent end-game stagnation.
Cooking Mama: Let's cook!Contender
Cooking Diary® Restaurant GameContender
Good Pizza, Great PizzaContender
Cooking City: Restaurant GamesContenderUnlock the head-to-head verdict: where this rival wins, and where it loses.
Access the full report for freeThe Analyst's Read
Key takeaways for What's Cooking? - Mama Recipes
Where is it heading?
- Last updated July 2021 — indicates the app is in maintenance mode despite high ratings.
- Users report recycled events and content stagnation — threatening long-term retention.
- Maintains a 4.9-star rating with 6k+ reviews — strong core loop and aesthetic appeal.
The SWOT
- Massive recipe library (1000+) for high collection value
- Strong emotional hooks via pet mechanics (Shiba Inu)
- Exceptional 4.9-star user rating indicating high core loop polish
- Revive live-ops with seasonal events to monetize the existing recipe library
- Implement social 'Chef Teams' to increase user retention
- Expand meta-game with farming or supply-chain mechanics
Next best moves
Resume Live-Ops and Content Updates
+ 2 more prioritized movesFeature gaps
Social 'Chef Teams' and global tournaments (available in Star Chef 2) +3
Bottom line
What's Cooking? is a high-quality product currently being left to wither in maintenance mode. While its 4.9-star rating and 1,000+ recipes are massive competitive assets, the 3-year update silence is driving away loyal players to more active rivals like Star Chef 2.
Unlock 3 critical frictions, 3 market threats, 2 more prioritized moves and the analyst’s take.
Access the full report for freeReport last updated