Media Molecule is best known these days as the developer behind Dreams. Still, the studio rose to prominence from the back of its LittleBigPlanet series, with mascot Sackboy becoming synonymous with PlayStation. According to studio co-founder Mark Healey, in the early days, Microsoft was "on the prowl" and "kind of trying to steal" the studio from Sony, resulting in a drunken proposition.
Healey revealed the salacious tale to MinnMax (thanks, Eurogamer), where he showed how loose the initial relation with PlayStation platform holder Sony was: "The funny thing is, we didn't have anything in writing to say that we were actually going to continue with [Sony] or that they even owned what we were doing, is my memory of it."
Revealing that Microsoft came calling around this time, Healey said: "Technically, we could have done [that]. We could have been like, 'Yeah fuck it, let's go with Microsoft. They are probably going to give us a load of money.'" The studio co-founder said Media Molecule wouldn't have felt right breaking its gentlemanly agreement with Sony, which he felt would have been "morally corrupt".
Recounting how the whole situation came to a head, Heally recalls a boozy evening shared between Media Molecule and an unnamed Microsoft executive: "[We] went out and got a bit drunk, and it was just as we were dropping the guy off at his hotel, he was kind of like 'Oh shit, I was on a mission here! I've got to at least say something.' And he was, 'Oh you, by the way, guys, you know we would be happy to blah blah blah take you on if you want to jump ship to us' or something like that. And you could tell he was almost embarrassed to say it because it would have been a very naughty thing to do. And we didn't because, you know, we are nice people, and we were very grateful that Sony gave us that chance."
Could you imagine Media Molecule deciding to jump ship to Xbox after a few drinks? Where do you think that bold Microsoft executive is today? Let us know in the comments section below.
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People's word counts for so little these days, I respect them a lot for sticking to their gentleman's agreement.
Crazy story, though — if not all that surprising!
It also shows how unprofessional and amateur some Xbox executives were, which is also not surprising given past history.
are we going to see another little big planet game ?
Good job they didnt really. They would be long gone by now id imagine. MM need to go back to making fun games again tho i think. Dreams was a big gamble that in the end didnt quite pan out. Sackboy's adventure was a good old romp tho.
Why is this story written like it is recounting a young actress's evening with Harvey Weinstein?
@Kidfunkadelic83 Big Adventure was by Sumo, wasn't it?
We do need a proper LBP game to come back again - let's have the full, fun 4-player couch co-op mayhem experience once more!
Played LBP on the trusty old PS3 Slim the other day and the graphics still stand up to this day. Why is it still stuck on the PS3 though?
@sanderson72 it may well have been mate. The LBP game were always a joy to play. Just fun times without alot of thinking involved.
If they'd 'jumped ship' to MS, they would be closed down by now.
Funny story, especially if Media Molecule ends up next on the chopping block.
I love the first two Littlebigplanet games. Hope they decide to make another one day.
Given Herman Hulst's love of remasters,(though mostly PS4 to PS5),it's sad he doesn't have the same love for a LBP 1& 2 remaster/remake. It's got plenty of mtx opportunities,& they literally have a creation tool in Dreams that potentially could be reworked for LBP!
As for Microsoft....well they've always had a sense of humour,they gave the normally staid Nintendo board the giggles when they suggested a takeover buyout!!😋😂
I think they dodged a bullet. There is no way a studio like theirs would stay open under microsoft.
Even Sony has been shaky about them, but way more tolerable. Their output is very low.
@sanderson72
The best LBP is on Vita, also not made by Media Molecule. I like MM but unfortunately it seems that studio's best days are behind it. Would love to see LBP make a come back with the right team behind it, though.
@Robocod Well they could really do with something; MM uploaded all their textures, objects, etc. to the LBP3 PS4 server at the start of the year and then only recently, Sony shut down said PS4 server due to unspecified issues with no indication about it ever coming back!
Id love to see them get back to the basic, arcadey, handcrafted worlds of LBP1 and Tearaway. LBP1 had so much charm and fantastic music!
I'm kinda curious when this whole thing happened. After LBP 2's release? Or during Dream's development?
Honestly, if MM went to Microsoft, I feel they would've been closed shortly after Dreams released.
@PapaGlitch lmao oh no u did not
95% chance Media Molecule would have been shut down by now if they were owned by Microsoft.
Well I always saw Illomilo with the 360. So LBP with Xbox huh. Maybe could have gone interesting directions but like Project Spark may have died. I think Sony made a good call.
Some good creativity LBP/Dreams have that just fits PlayStation or Nintendo audiences well I think.
But then again Japan Studios was a bunch of studios but London hmm. Media Molecule going is the last straw for me and I have nothing but Astro/Asobi to care about and that's not good enough for me to own a PlayStation only third parties and peripherals at that point/is how I am already.
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