It looks like the LittleBigPlanet series is nearing a sad and subdued end, as LittleBigPlanet 3 and all its DLC will be removed from the PlayStation Store on October 31st.
The game remains playable for anyone who owns the game and has the DLC, but the online features have been disabled since early 2024, making user-generated content inaccessible unless it has already been downloaded and saved to a device.
What’s sad is that it’s bad actors who ruined the enjoyment of an extremely enjoyable and beloved series. The problems started in 2021 when the game’s servers were hit by what was initially suspected as a DDoS attack, with intermittent availability in the weeks that followed while the team running the game attempted to implement security fixes. It reached a tipping point when hackers began using their access to display custom error messages on players’ screens with transphobic messages, forcing Sony to take its servers offline while they worked on a fix. A fix was eventually released for LBP 3 specifically on PS4 and the series’ millions of UGC levels were retained, but the PS3 and handheld versions of the game were lost at that time. This year things clearly went wrong again and Sony threw in the towel.
It’s not quite the end of the series yet – Sackboy: A Big Adventure is still available to buy – but none of the main game series are available on any current platform and all online servers are offline. There are no signs or rumors that series creator MediaMolecule will return to LBP, or that Sony plans to partner with a third party like Sumo Digital again.
Source: LittleBigPlanetTwitter