LittleBigPlanet Restitched Project Shuts Down After Receiving A Cease And Desist From Sony Europe

LittleBigPlanet Restitched Project Shuts Down After Receiving A Cease And Desist From Sony Europe
Credit: Renefoetsie via YouTube

The most depressing news is the hardest to parse and explain, writing out an ill-gained eulogy for titles that never had their fair share of the limelight.  The LittleBigPlanet Restitched non-profit community project has received a cease and desist from Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe, after working on the project for months.  Their alpha announcement brought untold levels of hype for fans of the genre on PC, all eager to dive back into the world that Media Molecule imagined and brought as a PlayStation exclusive with the precision and comfort of a PC.

LittleBigPlanet via YouTube

The development studio behind LBP Restitched, Trixel Creative, has spent innumerable hours pouring their passion into this project, working closely with the LBP community manager from the beginning to ensure that they always stayed well within the realm of legality to not invoke Sony’s ire.  This included numerous statements that it is a fan-made project, a non-profit undertaking and a bunch more of additional boring legal terms (though likely exciting for lawyers) that Trixel Creative stayed well within the boundaries of.

We are very, very gutted by this news, as it’s been everyone involved’s dream to create a new nostalgic experience for the community. – Trixel Creative

Sony Europe claimed that the reason for shutting the project down was the commercialization of the project, in spite of Trixel Creative’s best efforts.  Unfortunately, there isn’t much Trixel can say in the matter as Sony holds the IP along with Sumo Digital.

Press F to pay respects; it’s a crushing blow to a talented team that looked indomitable from what they’ve shown publically.

Every cloud has a silver lining, and LBP Restitched being cancelled is no different.  Trixel Creative isn’t going to simply crumple up and disappear, imagining what could have been if events worked out differently.  Instead, they close their message of surprising capitulation with a note of strength, hope, and a resounding sense of courage.

Their developers have been hard at work on what Media Molecule released to public domain, making the various mechanics work appropriately on PC.  While their developers and artists have been gaining experience, there was always an internal acknowledgement of what may eventually transpire; Sony closing the project under threat of legal action.

So Trixel Creative is now doubling down, and they’re free to bring the next generation of platforming and user-generated content right to PCs.  A brand new indie title focused on users creating and sharing their ideas with the world, free of any shackles that them trying to toe the legal line had brought.  Trixel Creative has had to remove any mention of LBP from their platform, but they’re moving beyond this blow.

They haven’t announced precisely what they’re cooking up in lieu of the LBP franchise, but if it’s anything like what we’ve seen from their public announcements, it is sure to blow the pants off of everyone.  We know that user-generated content is going to be a core aspect, but everything else is a wild guess for the time being.

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