LittleBigPlanet legacy servers to be shut down over safety concerns

The LittleBigPlanet Twitter account released a statement announcing its intention to shut down the servers for LittleBigPlanet, LittleBigPlanet 2, the PS3 version of LittleBigPlanet 3, and LittleBigPlanet Vita, making the content on LittleBigPlanet 3 for PS4 the only levels that will survive unscathed.

For a game series all about used-generated content, this sounds a bit like missing the point. But the reason given for the shutdown is so that the community remains safe, referring to the end of those server as “the best way to protect the LittleBigPlanet community and to help ensure that our online environment stays safe”.

Consolidating servers makes more sense when you consider the troubles that have been plaguing the LittleBigPlanet games recently, including DDoS attacks and harassment/hate speech. This way, the moderation team probably won’t be stretched as thin. And given that the LittleBigPlanet audience is made up of people of all ages, it makes sense that moderation would be a high priority for the team.

Single-player and offline co-op content will still be playable on the affected versions. And it’s important to note that all LittleBigPlanet content is still accessible from the PS4 version of 3. Still, it’s a bummer that games people paid for will have gutted online features going forward, a casualty of our digital future. There’s something to be said for the loss of digital content from a preservation standpoint, but at least the team is committed to keeping all it can in the current version.

LittleBigPlanet 3 is available for PS4 now.