Sony and Sumo Digital have announced that LittleBigPlanet 3, along with the entire currently-available range of LittleBigPlanet DLC, will no longer be available via the PlayStation Store starting later this month.
Per a post on the official LittleBigPlanet X (formerly Twitter) account, LittleBigPlanet 3 and the series DLC will be delisted from the store on October 31st. That’s one way to scare LittleBigPlanet fans, I suppose.
Sony says that anyone who owns the game or its DLC will still be able to access those things after the delisting, so this isn’t a complete removal. However, you won’t be able to purchase the game or any of the DLC being delisted after that date.
As Sony points out, its message is a “friendly reminder” that anyone who has yet to purchase LittleBigPlanet 3 or “any LittleBigPlanet DLC currently available for purchase” should do so before October 31st.
Of course, if you own a physical copy of the game, it’s not just suddenly going to stop working, so you’ll always be able to play it from the disc. However, it won’t be available to buy digitally anymore.
Sony doesn’t give a reason for the game being delisted, but it’s possible that since much of LittleBigPlanet‘s DLC revolves around licensed IP such as Metal Gear Solid, Dragon Age, and Doctor Who, those licenses have run out and Sony either won’t or can’t renew them.
Games are delisted from digital storefronts for a variety of reasons, and licensing is just one of them; others include DRM issues, poor performance on certain platforms, and a host of other potential causes.
The delisting of LittleBigPlanet 3 means that after October 31st, it will no longer be possible to buy and own a LittleBigPlanet game via a digital PlayStation storefront, which feels like a real blow for preservation.
Thankfully, as long as it’s possible to track down pre-owned physical copies of the game, you’ll still be able to pick it up from somewhere, and you can still buy LittleBigPlanet 3 via the PlayStation Store for now, so if you have any inclination whatsoever to play it, I’d pick it up sooner rather than later.
