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Sony's Unfortunate Update for LittleBigPlanet Enthusiasts

Sony delivers disappointing news about the future of the beloved 2014 PlayStation-exclusive puzzle platformer, LittleBigPlanet 3.
Sony's Unfortunate Update for LittleBigPlanet Enthusiasts

Highlights

  • LittleBigPlanet 3's servers have been permanently closed, rendering player-created levels inaccessible.
  • The game's extensive creation tools allowed players to share levels online, but all online services have now been disabled.
  • Fans are grieving the loss of 15 years' worth of user-generated content, prompting efforts to archive and safeguard it.

Sony has officially announced that the servers for LittleBigPlanet 3 will not be reinstated and are now closed indefinitely. This closure means that the multitude of player-designed levels from LittleBigPlanet 3 can no longer be accessed. This decision follows the temporary shutdown of the servers in January 2024, which was initially intended to be a brief pause.

Initially launched in 2014 for the PlayStation 3 and 4 consoles, LittleBigPlanet 3 was developed by Sumo Digital and Media Molecule. The third installment in the series garnered significant acclaim, praised for its visuals, creation mode, and additional gameplay features it introduced. The game's creation tools were robust, enabling players to craft their own levels, characters, and objects, which could be shared online for others to enjoy. Regrettably, many of these user-generated creations are now inaccessible.

In a recent update on PlayStation's website concerning online functionalities of select games, LittleBigPlanet 3 has been added to the list. The post acknowledges that the technical difficulties leading to the closure of LittleBigPlanet 3's servers earlier this year were meant to be temporary. However, Sony and PlayStation have decided to keep the servers offline indefinitely, resulting in the discontinuation of all online services and access to other player creations within the game. Consequently, hundreds of thousands of levels created over the past 15 years are now lost.

The Impact of LittleBigPlanet 3's Server Closure

While user-generated content for LittleBigPlanet 3 can still be accessed and created locally on PS4, sharing it online is no longer possible. Offline features such as the story mode and multiplayer co-op of LittleBigPlanet 3 remain accessible to players, albeit exclusively for local play.

The loss of this vast array of user-generated content has deeply affected fans. The closure of the servers for the PS3 LittleBigPlanet games by Sony and PlayStation, following a significant DDoS attack the company faced in 2021, hinted at this outcome. With 15 years' worth of player-created content vanished, many mourned their inability to preserve their creations before or after the supposed

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