Sackboy LittleBigPlanet

It's been a while since Sony has offered an update on the LittleBigPlanet debacle. As a reminder, a disgruntled fan of the franchise launched a DDOS attack on LittleBigPlanet 3, taking the game offline. While studio Sony XDEV said it was looking into the technical troubles, it appears that ongoing issues with hacks have forced the platform holder to shut down servers for almost all games in the series.

In a new statement from the official LittleBigPlanet Twitter account, it says that online services for LBP 1, 2, 3 (PS3 version), and LBP PS Vita have been permanently shuttered.

The upshot is that LittleBigPlanet 3 still has all its online functionality on PS4 via a new patch, so you can continue to play, create, and share with the community that way. However, older titles have sadly had their servers switched off in order to "protect the community and to help ensure that our online environment remains safe".

Some things to point out: any levels published online via the older games will still be accessible via LBP 3 on PS4. Also, you can still play the offline story modes and DLC of the earlier entries as normal. If you want to play LittleBigPlanet online and check out community levels, however, your only choice is LBP 3 on PS4.

It's a massive shame that things have got to this point, and we've no doubt that fans will be disappointed. The silver lining is that the user-made levels — of which there are more than 10 million — are safe and sound via LBP 3 on PS4, so all is not lost.

[source twitter.com]