Sony and Media Molecule, creators of LittleBigPlanet, have announced that the game now boasts more 1,000,000 user-created levels in its database. That’s an average of one level being created ever 21 seconds since LittleBigPlanet first launched back in October / November last year.The staggering 1m levels have been played over 244 million times.
This figure is good for Sony in more than just sales revenue terms too. The game is single-handedly carving out a really unique niche for the PS3. Microsoft has done a sort of half hearted make-your-own-games thing with the recent launch of Kodu Game Lab, but basically user-generated game content has become Sony’s baby in this generation.
That’s not to say it has been too easy getting there, though. The game was famously delayed after Qur'an references were found in the background music. LittleBigPlanet’s giant level database has been criticised for being too difficult to find particular levels in and it has faced numerous problems with copyrights, because players naturally want to try recreating other games using the LittleBigPlanet level creator. Players have also complained in the past that their creations have been unceremoniously moderated (aka deleted) for reasons unknown, although Media Molecule has since rejigged its rules on level moderation to help players out rather than annoy them.
But it’s working, clearly, and Sony is going to continue capitalising on LittleBigPlanet’s success in future – the game is due to get a PSP outing, which will only serve to widen the appeal of making custom levels once you play them on the train or at work.
Furthermore, the concept of ‘Play, Create, Share’, under which LittleBigPlanet was born (or vice versa), is also being rolled out to other games, including ModNation Racers, a racing game announced back at E3. Essentially it’s a kart racing game much akin to Mario Kart, but you get to design all the cars, tracks and racers yourself.
The Media Molecule CEO has also hinted that more LittleBigPlanet news would be coming on August 18th.
Source: T3