Warning: This post contains high doses of nostalgia. Beyond everything you’ve been told about video games, the truest truth is that their genuine purpose is to entertain. In this sense, there is a title that has its own throne in the history of video games and in our hearts: LittleBigPlanet.
Their creators, Media Molecule, they gave us a video game with ideas well ahead of its time. We are talking about a delivery that arrived in 2008, before social networks became the center of millions of people. His idea was simple: create and share content. Currently, she is forgotten.
LittleBigPlanet: The Birth of a Legend
The original LittleBigPlanet was launched in 2008. Both Media Molecule and Sony had many doubts about the project, as they weren’t sure they would like the proposal: a video game based on creating and sharing levels with other players. This implies a very, very active community.
Currently it seems normal to us: Minecraft, Mario Maker, Dreams and many other video games such as GTA V and Far Cry they allow us to create and share worlds and levels. And not only that: many video games include Photo Mode and other games like Animal Crossing, Fallout 4 and Hogwarts Legacy allow you to customize your own places. And all this with hyperextended social networks to back them up.
However, LittleBigPlanet it was before all this was normalized. We are talking about a video game that allowed you to create levels and then share them with other players. The creative limits were in our mind and in the pieces that we could use to build them. It was something truly innovative… and more on consoles.
As its development progressed, Media Molecule y Sony They began to see the potential. So much so, that Sony acquired the exclusive rights to the video game for PlayStation. Needless to say that LittleBigPlanet it was a runaway success both in sales (more than three million copies in its first year) and critics, and won all kinds of awards (game of the year, best art direction, best design, innovation). Media Molecule was the author of a legend.
Players went completely crazy: it only took a few hours for the game to feature thousands of levels created by the community. He racked up over a million levels before his first year. If these numbers don’t overwhelm you, remember that life and content in 2008 weren’t as hectic as they were in 2023.
The rise and fall of LittleBigPlanet
In 2010, Media Molecule It became part of the PlayStation studios and Sackboy became one of the most famous mascots on the platform to this day. The sequel was not long in coming. LittleBigPlanet 2 arrived in 2011 and just did the same thing as its predecessor, but much better. Sales weren’t as stratospheric as the original title, but it became the best valued installment in the entire franchise.
The littlebigplanet community was already established, so it shouldn’t surprise you to learn that the number of levels in the sequel far exceeded the number in the original game, even winning the world record for the most community-created levels in a video game. We are talking about nine million scenarios, an average of two hundred levels per hour. Complete madness. But all that glitters is not gold…
LittleBigPlanet found the first reason for its fall from fame: their community. Level plagiarism completely destroyed the idea of the game. Creativity went to waste when users started downloading and re-uploading levels to gain popularity and ratings within the game.
He level plagiarism problem It got worse over time and soon the section to find new levels and search for them would be completely broken. Finding good and new levels was almost impossible, so many players chose to stop playing. Something similar is currently happening with the car designs in Need for Speed and Hot Wheels Unleashed.
LittleBigPlanet: falling, without brakes and skull
After LittleBigPlanet 2, Media Molecule distanced itself from the title… but it was not the end of the franchise. We have seen how up to 6 deliveries have arrived:
- LittleBigPlanet PS Vita was developed by Tarsier Studios and Double Eleven, and became a much-loved installment in the franchise. Of course, it was not even the shadow of what the original game was.
- later came LittleBigPlanet Karting, which respected its essence of creating and sharing levels… albeit with a new format. Media Molecule was not involved in the development.
- LittleBigPlanet HUB it was announced in 2013, but was cancelled. Fans were left without a reasonable explanation.
- Run Sackboy! Run! was released in 2014 for PSVita and Android mobile devices. It is a free-to-play adventure.
- LittleBigPlanet 3 was the cannon shot that finished sinking the ship. It was developed by Sumo Digital and released in 2014 for PS3/PS4 after much pressure from Sony. They wanted to have it for Christmas. Result? The game launched unfinished, with no crossplay between PS3 and PS4, and an alarming number of bugs, including a high chance that all your progress would be irretrievably erased. Many bugs remain to this day.
- Sackboy: A Big Adventure (A Big Adventure) was released in 2020 for PS4, PS5, and PC, and was developed by Sumo Digital. The game became a 3D platformer instead of 2.5D as in previous installments.
One year later (2021), Media Molecule announced the closure of the online servers forever for LittleBigPlanet, LittleBigPlanet 2 and LittleBigPlanet 3 on PS3 and LittleBigPlanet on PS Vita. Only the PS4 version of LittleBigPlanet 3 survives.
Meanwhile, Media Molecule developed and released the spiritual successor to the original LittleBigPlanet: Dreams (2020). A logical evolution of his first work that offers infinitely greater freedom. Level creation was too small for them, so they presented an experience that allows you to create and share games with the community. In addition, they included a tribute to Sackboy.
The last time we heard about LittleBigPlanet was in January of this year (2023), when it was announced that Ultimate Sackboy It would arrive on Android and iOS on February 21. the game is already available on Google Play Storealthough it’s not even close to what a fan would consider LittleBigPlanet.
Name LittleBigPlanet has been (almost) forgotten, but not his legacy. His influence not only includes game development, but also how we play them. Every time we create content in a video game (levels, designs, worlds, recreations…) and share it with our community on Twitter, Reddit, YouTube, Twitch, etc., we keep the essence of LittleBigPlanet alive.
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