eCrew Development Program

eCrew Development Program (eCDP, Japanese: クルトレ eCDP), known unofficially as the McDonald's Training Game, is an educational video game created by McDonald's. Released for the Nintendo DS sometime in 2010 internally within the Japanese division of McDonald's, it was only ever distributed to the company's own restaurants domestically, and never meant to be released to the public.

eCrew Development Program
Title screen
Developer(s)unknown[1]
Publisher(s)McDonald's
Platform(s)Nintendo DS
Release2010
Genre(s)Education, simulation, quiz
Mode(s)Single-player

Gameplay

The game teaches the player how to cook and serve various McDonald's menu items and perform other restaurant tasks, and was used to train new restaurant employees. It features several game modes and features, including simulations of food preparation and customer interaction, quizzes, player profiles for employees and managers, and performance statistics.

History

It was distributed in tandem with a separate game titled eSMART which aimed to train existing employees rather than new ones. As of January 12, 2022, the Twitter account 'Forest of Illusion'[2][3] preserved the game ROM of eSMART 2.0 after a fundraiser.

Development

The game had a budget of ¥200 million and was planned for use in all 3,700 McDonald's locations across Japan by the end of 2010,[4][5][6][7] to which it was distributed together with a DSi with an embossed McDonald's logo on the front.[8] It is unknown to what extent it was used and for how long.

Rediscovery
eCDP cartridge

A single copy of the game surfaced in September 2020 on an online auction,[9] which was sold to American YouTuber Nick Robinson for around ¥300,000 (3,000 USD) on Yahoo Japan through Buyee. Robinson uploaded the game cartridge's ROM to the Internet Archive on 17 November 2020, alongside a documentary he produced detailing how he acquired it.[10][11][12] The required password to enter the game was printed on the McDonald's themed DS Robinson received, however, another person working to find it, Coddy Trentuit, obtained it via inspection of the game's data in a hex editor.

On August 11, 2021, three days after they obtained their copy, Twitter user XX_750000 released the manual, as well as the box art, and some gameplay footage, on Twitter.[13]

On January 12, 2022, the Twitter account Forest of Illusion, an account dedicated to video game preservation, announced the archival of eSMART 2.0,[14] obtained via a private fundraiser.

The game known as 'eSMART 1.0' is the original eCDP game in a rebranded box; they share the same serial number.

See also

References
  1. "日本マクドナルドホールディングス（2702）２０１０年株主総会レポート～その２". Seesaa (in Japanese). 4 April 2010. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
  2. Fingas, Jon. "Archivists have preserved a long-lost McDonald's Nintendo DS training game". Yahoo! Finance. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  3. Forest of Illusion [@forestillusion] (12 January 2022). "We have released the long awaited McDonald's Nintendo DS cartridge titled "eSMART 2.0" (not to be confused with the previously preserved eCDP). It was created with the purpose of training employees in Japanese McDonald's restaurants, and thus, they never made it to public hands" (Tweet) – via Twitter.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. Loftus, Jack (21 March 2010). "McDonald's Japan To Begin Training Employees with Nintendo DS, Software". Gizmodo. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  5. Brown, Damon (20 April 2010). "Bad Recipe: Why McDonald's Shouldn't Use Nintendo To Train Staff". CBS News. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  6. Gantayat, Anoop (21 March 2010). "McDonalds Uses DS To Train Part Time Workers". Andriasang. Archived from the original on 24 March 2010.
  7. McDonald's Japan Teaches Burger Making With Nintendo DS: Video. Bloomberg Quicktake. 23 March 2012. Archived from the original on 29 October 2021. Retrieved 7 December 2021 – via YouTube.
  8. Reilly, Jim (14 June 2012). "McDonald's Japan Using Nintendo DS To Train Employees". IGN. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  9. Lehecka, Eddie (30 June 2020). "Rare McDonald's Nintendo DSi with Training Software Surfaces on Auction Site". Otaquest. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  10. Lo Giudice, Federico (18 November 2020). "Nintendo DS: te contamos la historia del misterioso juego perdido de McDonald's y cómo reapareció". Cultura Geek (in Spanish). Retrieved 27 November 2020.
  11. Mosena, Michele (19 November 2020). "La ROM del gioco perduto di McDonald's per Nintendo DS è stata pubblicata online". Nintendoomed (in Italian). Retrieved 27 November 2020.
  12. Houlihan, Ryan (23 November 2020). "Do yourself a favor and watch this video about a lost McDonald's DS game". Input Magazine. Retrieved 27 November 2020.
  13. ミミ🐧 [@XX_750000] (11 August 2021). "eCrew Development Program (eCDP) - Case and Instructions t.co/o0sSWLNhkX" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 20 November 2021. Retrieved 7 December 2021 – via Twitter.
  14. "The Saga Of The Ultra-Rare McDonald's DS Game Comes To An End After 11 Long Years". Kotaku. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
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