An end of an era for LittleBigPlanet fans has come, as Sony has announced that they are permanently shutting down servers for LittleBigPlanet games on Playstation 3 and Playstation Vita. This is followed by LittleBigPlanet 3 servers being forced to shut down in May, as an aggrieved fan of the franchise launched a DDOS attack on its community. After months of technical troubles, it appears that Sony's XDEV studio has forced the company that manufactures the franchise's software to shut down servers for almost all the games in the series, following an "extended downtime".
LittleBigPlanet by Media Moducule was considered a revelation amongst console games when the first installment featuring the popular Sackboy launched in 2008. Giving players the tools to create and share imaginative and in-depth levels, LittleBigPlanet grew its community, spanning across a decade with its three major installments in the series. While some players found the creative side of LittleBigPlanet intricate, others found it roistering and the number of created community levels for the franchise sits at 10,000,000. Though no longer working on the series, Media Molecule went on to create even more ingenuities for players, with their last title being Dreams on the Playstation 5.
In a tweet posted on the official LittleBigPlanet account, (via Kotaku) the development team has announced that they're permanently shutting down servers for the LittleBigPlanet trilogy on Playstation 3 along with LittleBigPlanet on the Playstation Vita. The team cites that this decision was important and that they need to ensure the communities environment remains safe. There is however a comforting prospect to the update, LittleBigPlanet 3's online functionalities on the Playstation 4 are fully returning via a new patch going out today. This allows players to once more have access to millions of community levels, including ones from the previous Playstation 3 titles, along with being able to create and share again.
While LittleBigPlanet 3 is the last installment of the main series, Sackboy recently returned to screens with a spin-off titled called Sackboy: A Big Adventure. Announced at the PlayStation 5 reveal event, the title is a 3D platformer compared to previous installments in the series which were 2.5D, and its gameplay is similar to recent Mario games. Though Sackboy: A Big Adventure did not feature any Create Mode similar to previous entries, multiplayer was introduced a month after its release, allowing four players to experience the artsy journey together.
Server shutdowns and DDOS attacks are eventual issues and common occurrences within multiplayer communities. While fans are no doubt highly disappointed by the recent hacks and Sony's ultimate decision to shut down servers, LittleBigPlanet 3 is officially back online, allowing unwavering players to play, create, and share with the community once more.
Source: LittleBigPlanet/Twitter, Kotaku