LittleBigPlanet 3 players never had that chance. It’s still not ideal, but it gave players a chance to prepare. Those levels - and all others - remained available to download until April 2024, when online services for the Wii U went offline. Nintendo did this in 2020 when it announced Super Mario Maker would lose support for online features, giving players until 2021 to upload new courses. LittleBigPlanet 3’s big problem is its lack of notice for the permanent shutdown usually, when these types of announcements are made, there’s some time for players to say their goodbyes - whether that’s saving favorite levels or simply having one last go at the game. It’s not a unique thing for older games to go offline, which can be a significant preservation problem for video games and video game history. Problems arose again in January, which led to the latest shutdown, which was supposed to be temporary. LittleBigPlanet 3 was eventually nixed for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita, but came back online for PlayStation 4. Problems began for LittleBigPlanet 3 in 2021, when servers were maliciously attacked. The game itself is beloved for its creative, playful platforming campaign - but it’s user-created content is what’s given the game such an impressive lifespan.

LittleBigPlanet 3 was released in 2014, a follow-up to 2011’s LittleBigPlanet 2 and the original LittleBigPlanet from 2008. “We obviously share today’s news with very heavy hearts and thank you for your continued support over the years,” a LittleBigPlanet 3 representative posted from the official X account. That means more than 16 years of player creations have been wiped for the majority of LittleBigPlanet 3 players - though LittleBigPlanet 3 was released in 2014, players had access to creations all the way back to LittleBigPlanet. Players can still create levels, too, but won’t be able to share them. LittleBigPlanet 3 players can still play offline, with access to the campaign and user-generated creations already downloaded to their PlayStation 4 consoles. On Friday, developer Sumo Digital and publisher Sony Interactive Entertainment announced the servers will stay offline indefinitely “due to ongoing technical issues.” LittleBigPlanet 3’s servers have been offline since January, leaving players unable to access player-created levels stored in the game’s archive.

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