Sony has indefinitely shut down the online servers of PlayStation 4 platformer LittleBigPlanet 3, months after saying it had “temporarily” taken the game offline while it resolved technical issues.
“Due to ongoing technical issues that caused the LittleBigPlanet 3 for PS4 servers to go temporarily offline in January 2024, the decision has been made to keep the servers offline indefinitely,” reads an update from the LBP account x.
“All online services, including access to other players’ creations for LittleBigPlanet 3, are no longer available.”
The account states that all user-generated content stored locally will remain available, but it cannot be shared.
However, the surprise shutdown means that many user creations are now inaccessible, or even lost forever – as many in the community feared.
“I fear that Sony’s decision to pull the plug on the servers very soon is a real possibility,” one Reddit user wrote in January. “Nearly 16 years of user-generated content, millions of levels, some with millions of games and hearts. Absolutely iconic levels locked forever with no way to relive them.
The closure follows recent confirmation that Media Molecule’s curation team has been furloughed as part of previously announced layoffs.
Sony-owned studio Dreams and LittleBigPlanet announced last October that it was beginning a consultation process for team members in certain departments.
Media Molecule discontinued most live support for Dreams last September after focusing on a new project, but it continued to offer curation services in-game, as well as online through various channels, including The Impsider, which will no longer be supported.
