Media Molecule: LittleBigPlanet Launch 'Rocky'

Media Molecule has stated that the launch of LittleBigPlanet has not been smooth sailing. Executive producer Siobhan Reddy, told Game Developer mag that the launch period has, in fact, "been rocky".

One of the reasons for this is, apparently, that the UK-based developer had its choice of servers restricted by Sony. Says Reddy, "We spent a long time talking with Sony about how to proceed with the server technology to support the online components.

"We had proposed a LittleBigPlanet-specific solution, but it was rejected because, we were told, improving an existing tried-and-tested server would be safer than relying on an entirely new server that would be a perfect match, but would require a lot of testing and not map well to Sony’s process.

"As a result, a whole section of the game had to be managed and developed collaboratively between Sony and Media Molecule."

Sounds like just a smidgeon of hard feeling in there between developer and publisher with Reddy commenting that Media Molecule's choice would have been "a perfect match". Maybe it would also have enabled the online collaboration that is still awaited; in fact, it's rapidly becoming long-awaited.

On the upside, the process that brought the pop-it tool moved from a set of tools to the single unit that LittleBigPlanet owners use today. It was also, "primarily coded by one man, Jonny Hopper."

Still, against much cant about sales from around the Internet, LittleBigPlanet has now sold 1.3 million units and looks to be settling in after both hype and negativity have crested.

^{Source: LittleBigPlanetoid}