Sony has taken the PlayStation 4 servers for the puzzle platformer out of service indefinitely LittleBigPlanet 3the company announced an update on one of its support pages. The final shutdown comes just months after servers were temporarily taken offline due to ongoing problems. Fans now fear that potentially hundreds of thousands of player creations that aren’t saved locally will be lost for good.
“Due to ongoing technical issues that resulted in the LittleBigPlanet 3 servers for PlayStation 4 being temporarily taken offline in January 2024, the decision has been made to keep the servers offline indefinitely,” Sony wrote in the update. first discovered by Listed games. “All online services including access to other players’ creations for LittleBigPlanet 3 are no longer available.”
The 2014 sequel, starring Sackboy and other hand-crafted creatures, was loved for the creativity and flexibility it offered players to create their own platforming levels. The game’s offline features remain available, as does locally saved user-generated content. However, players cannot share them or access data stored on Sony’s servers, which likely makes up the majority of user-generated content for the game.
While the servers for the PS3 version of the game were originally shut down in 2021 due to ongoing DDOS attacks, the PS4 servers remained open until January 2024 when malicious mods were discovered threatened the safety of the game. “We’re temporarily taking this Little big planet “The servers are offline while we investigate a number of issues that have been reported to us,” the game’s Twitter account said announced at the time. “If you are affected by these issues, rest assured that we are aware of them and are working to resolve them for everyone affected.”
Some players feared the closure could become permanent. It now appears that they were right.
“Nearly 16 years of user-generated content, millions of levels, some with millions of games and hearts,” wrote one long-time player, Weeni-Tortellini. on Reddit in January. “Absolutely iconic levels locked away forever with no way to relive them. For me, shutting down the servers is a huge undertaking Small big planet‘s story. Personally, I did a lot of the levels that I did as a kid. Digital relics of what made me as creative as I am today, and the only access I have to these layers is through the servers. I would be devastated if I could never experience it again.”
The final shutdown comes as the online services of many other older games are also being shut down. Nintendo took online multiplayer offline for Wii U and 3DS games earlier this month, affecting games like… Splatoon And Animal crossing new leaf. Ubisoft came under fire last week for not only shutting down the servers for always-online racing games The crewBut Revoking PC players’ licenses for the game itself as well as.
“This is of course a very sad day for all of us Small big planet and I have no doubt that many feel the same way.” tweeted Community Manager Steven Isbell. “However, I am still here to listen to all of you and will take the time in the coming weeks to reach out to the community and listen to anyone who wants to talk.”
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