A fix has been found for the LittleBigPlanet server issues that have plagued the series for most of this year, but at a cost. While the PlayStation 4 version of LittleBigPlanet 3 will be coming back online, the series’ developers are having to cut off the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita games in the series.
An update on the LittleBigPlanet server and online services: pic.twitter.com/vUrvHcZvIs
— Sackboy: A Big Adventure | LittleBigPlanet (@LittleBigPlanet) September 13, 2021
Game Update 1.27 is now live for LittleBigPlanet 3 on PS4, which allows access to the over 10 million community levels that have been uploaded to the series servers since the first game released on PS3 back in 2008, but sadly no such update is coming to the generation old PS3 games in the series.
The statement reads, “We have no doubt that this news will come as a big disappointment to a lot of you, ultimately this is the best way to protect the LittleBigPlanet community and to help ensure that our online environment remains safe.”
Perhaps what’s most disappointing is that it’s taken this long for Sony to find a solution. The LittleBigPlanet servers were hit by what was initially suspected to be a DDoS attack in March, with intermittent availability over the weeks that followed, as the team maintaining the game sought to implement security fixes. It reached a tipping point in May, when hackers started to leverage their access to display custom error messages on players’ screens with transphobic messages, forcing Sony to take the servers offline while working on a fix. It’s entirely possible that the legacy code required for those older games and systems to maintain was an avenue that was being used to attack the servers, and that it would take too much effort than is worthwhile to go back and fix four games on two system with minimal online users.
As noted in a follow up tweet, LBP3 on PS4 still has access to all the LBP1, LBP2 and LBP3 levels, thanks to the iterative way that MediaMolecule and the Sumo Digital expanded on the series’ creative tools. However, LittleBigPlanet Vita is the odd one out, with that game’s creative tools and user content being kept separate. All of those levels will be lost to the sands of server room floor.
Any community content previously published to our server via LBP1/LBP2/LBP3 on PlayStation 3 will still be available on LittleBigPlanet 3 on PlayStation 4. https://t.co/lPOllnMFE5
— Sackboy: A Big Adventure | LittleBigPlanet (@LittleBigPlanet) September 13, 2021
Of course, all of the original story mode levels will still be playable and purchased DLC will also work just fine if you were to boot up the PS3 games.
While there hasn’t been a new mainline LittleBigPlanet series since LIttleBigPlanet 3 released in 2014, the series mascot has starred in a different kind of adventure. Sackboy: A Big Adventure was released at the end of last year as a more straightforward co-op 3D platformer, albeit one without the creative elements that the franchise was built upon.
Source: Twitter
