On April 19th, several community members took note of an update to the decommissioned servers Page on the official PlayStation website. This page now displays that the LittleBigPlanet servers for PlayStation 4 have been shut down indefinitely. It is no longer possible to play on these official servers on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. Only local experiences are available like levels on your moon, story levels, DLC levels, and offline-only trophies.
📡 According to @PlayStation's website, the @LittleBigPlanet 3 servers for PlayStation 4 have been permanently shut down and will not return. Source: https://t.co/DlytlaQqwS 🧵 pic.twitter.com/FaSgjodc3h
— LBP Union (@LBPUnion) April 19, 2024
Shortly thereafter, the official LittleBigPlanet Twitter account confirmed the ‘indefinite’ (permanent) discontinuation of the servers.
An important message from us regarding the LittleBigPlanet servers and online features: pic.twitter.com/QLweKxvD3s
— Sackboy: A Big Adventure | LittleBigPlanet (@LittleBigPlanet) April 19, 2024
The problems began on January 7th when LittleBigPlanet fans took to X (Twitter) once again in outcry as numerous community members reported being falsely banned from PlayStation Network for content they supposedly uploaded through the game. Following the incident, the LittleBigPlanet servers for PlayStation 4 were temporarily shut off as the team investigates. First to report the issue was popular YouTuber BlazingVictini with this post shortly after midnight January 7th EST:
Cool, so I woke up to my PlayStation account being falesly suspended for 7 days due to "Hate Speech" on LittleBigPlanet.
— BlazingVictini (@BlazingVictini) January 7, 2024
Not only would I not spread hate speech of any kind, but I haven't even been on the game nor have PS Plus to do anything online. pic.twitter.com/G9jhzpyh4a
BlazingVictini added, “This isn’t the first time I’ve been falsely suspended on LittleBigPlanet for something I didn’t do either and I assume it’s targeted.” He asserted that he hadn’t played the game in a long time, and that there was nothing that he could have done that would have warranted moderation action.
Steven Isbell promptly responded with this assurance:
Thanks for letting me know.
— Steven Isbell (@StevenIsbell) January 7, 2024
I’ll investigate with the moderation team tomorrow.
However, the situation escalated significantly. 18 hours later, other players started experiencing similar issues. Click the dropdown below to see a list of users that may have been affected.
- Amaiha (Not affected)
- Aucratic
- Ayee
- barelyaugust
- BlazingVictiniYT
- CatgirlFishing
- Cheriune
- EpicLBPTime
- FattyMcIntosh
- hallm3
- HardestLevels
- ima_taka
- indo2042
- John4Lul
- Kimnchi-i-
- KyronWolfy
- m88youngling
- MmOfficial
- MysteriousCube
- Poms
- Relevant-ish
- SamuraiEzoiar (Xander_Beck)
- Sergeylogvinov
- SketchyModders
- Smuffy04
- Sonichu
- StevenI
- Sumo-MBryant
- Swouse-Mouse
- TechnicalSock
- Tom_Molecule
- Trixel_Creative
- VeryCoolMe
- ZephhyLeo
- IShowSpeed (?)
- Eric_Yorgey
Unfortunately, we were not able to get all the exact usernames. We don’t know if every user on this list was banned from PSN. However, we know that they have had their LBP profiles moderated.
We’ve observed the following pattern in the situation:
- A player was hearted by a particular user.
- The user’s profile description is moderated some time afterward.
- The user may receive an email saying that they have been suspended from PSN and they will lose access to PlayStation Network services.
Based on the names on this list and the patterns involved, it’s highly likely that each user was specifically targeted, meaning that the vast majority of LittleBigPlanet players weren’t at risk.
In fact, this same phenomenon has afflicted LittleBigPlanet’s own Community Manager Steven Isbell’s account, StevenI.
At 6:57 AM, LBP Union’s status monitoring tools detected that the LittleBigPlanet servers were switched offline. Those in our Discord server with notifications for the status history channel were the first to know.
At 7:05 AM EST, the official LittleBigPlanet account on X posted the following message:
We are temporarily taking the LittleBigPlanet servers offline whilst we investigate a number of issues that have been reported to us.
— Sackboy: A Big Adventure | LittleBigPlanet (@LittleBigPlanet) January 8, 2024
If you have been impacted by these issues, please be rest assured that we are aware of them and are working to resolve them for all affected.
At 7:10 AM EST on January 8th, Steven Isbell responded to a message from m88youngling explaining that any record of their suspensions will be removed from their accounts.
Later, at 2:15 PM EST, the official LittleBigPlanet X account explained that the servers would remain offline while the investigation continues.
Update: We will be keeping the LittleBigPlanet servers offline whilst we continue to investigate these issues that were reported to us.
— Sackboy: A Big Adventure | LittleBigPlanet (@LittleBigPlanet) January 8, 2024
We thank you for your continued patience and for all of your care and support at this time. ❤️ https://t.co/E7YPeMbBM8
This marks the first time in nearly three years that the LittleBigPlanet servers have been fully brought offline due to malicious activity.
On January 17th, 2024, influencer news outlet Dexerto posted a clip from popular streamer IShowSpeed reacting to a PlayStation Network ban that occurred on January 8th, the same day as the other false bans. IShowSpeed is seen in the video angry at his little brother for using his account on LittleBigPlanet. Although he accuses his brother of doing something inappropriate on the game, it’s entirely possible that IShowSpeed’s account was targeted in the attack. There have been various LittleBigPlanet community members on X speculating about the incident.
Okay, hear me out. What if IShowSpeed was one of the numerous people who were falsely banned from PSN because they supposedly uploaded inappropriate through #LittleBigPlanet.
— Aqua | #LBPCGP Event Organiser 📸 (@AquaLBP) January 17, 2024
On January 8th, he received an email saying his account was suspended, on the same day as the incident. https://t.co/v2Lzzz1gT3
On April 19th, following the discovery of the change to Sony’s discontinued servers page, LBP Union’s team noticed that the resource servers for LittleBigPlanet hosted by Sony remain operational, but cannot be accessed. It’s unknown what will become of the millions of levels now left inaccessible to the world.
Frequently Asked Questions
The following FAQs were provided by r/littlebigplanet Community Moderator Dylan Jalopy.
Restored Services:
None
Retired Services:
LittleBigPlanet (PlayStation 3)
LittleBigPlanet PSP (PlayStation Portable)
LittleBigPlanet 2 (PlayStation 3)
LittleBigPlanet PS Vita (PlayStation Vita)
LittleBigPlanet Karting (PlayStation 3)
LittleBigPlanet 3 (PlayStation 3)
LittleBigPlanet 3 (PlayStation 4)
LittleBigPlanet 3 (PlayStation 5)
The following is Sony’s official message about the LittleBigPlanet server discontinuation: “Due to ongoing technical issues which resulted in the LittleBigPlanet servers to be taken offline, the decision has been made to keep the LittleBigPlanet servers offline indefinitely. All online services including access to other players’ creations for LittleBigPlanet are no longer officially available.”
Story Mode, Create Mode and Level Pack DLC of any LittleBigPlanet title is available to play in single player or local co-op. User Generated Content stored locally on your PlayStation console will remain available. New User Generated Content you create can be played on your PlayStation console but not shared. You can continue to download new or previous DLC purchases for LittleBigPlanet, LittleBigPlanet 2 and LittleBigPlanet 3 directly from the PlayStation Store on your PlayStation console. DLC purchases are associated with your PlayStation Network account and do not require access to the LittleBigPlanet servers.
Content unlocked in LittleBigPlanet, LittleBigPlanet 2 and LittleBigPlanet 3 on PlayStation 3 will be available on LittleBigPlanet 3 on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. If content is missing in LittleBigPlanet 3, select Settings, My Unlocks, Unlock LittleBigPlanet Content
Trophies in LittleBigPlanet, LittleBigPlanet 2 and LittleBigPlanet 3 are obtainable. Trophies that require online services are no longer obtainable without custom servers.
Levels not published previously in LittleBigPlanet, LittleBigPlanet 2 and LittleBigPlanet 3 are no longer available to publish without custom servers.
Community Levels published previously in LittleBigPlanet, LittleBigPlanet 2 and LittleBigPlanet 3 are no longer available without custom servers.
A PlayStation Plus subscription was not required to publish Levels.
A PlayStation Plus subscription was only required to play online with friends on LittleBigPlanet 3 for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.
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