Super Mario Maker fans got to say goodbye to their game, but Sony just unceremoniously pulled the plug on LittleBigPlanet and 16 years of community creations

gamesradar.com:

It's a bad time to enjoy platformers built on community level creations, as LittleBigPlanet 3 servers have shut down just a week after support for Wii U servers and Super Mario Maker were killed. But while Nintendo fans got to say goodbye to their game, the death of LittleBigPlanet came as a sudden shock.

All LittleBigPlanet servers went offline in 2021 in the midst of hacks that were bombarding players with offensive content. Later that year, LittleBigPlanet 3 was brought back online, and since served as the only way fans could access 16 years worth of community-made levels dating back to the original 2008 game. Then, in January 2024, the devs announced that LittleBigPlanet 3 was once again going offline "temporarily."

Unfortunately, it seems that the temporary situation has now become permanent. "Due to ongoing technical issues which resulted in the LittleBigPlanet 3 servers for PS4 being taken offline temporarily in January 2024, the decision has been made to keep the servers offline indefinitely," the devs say in a tweet. "All online services including access to other players' creations for LittleBigPlanet 3 are no longer available." 

We obviously share today's news with very heavy hearts and thank you for your continued love and support over the years. ❤️April 19, 2024

It's an unceremonious end for a 16 year legacy of community content. Any such server shutdown comes as an ultimately understandable business decision, but equally, they're all distressing blows for game preservation. The timing means I can't help but think of the Super Mario Maker shutdown, which players had loads of advance notice for, leading to one of the coolest community efforts in recent memory.

Meanwhile, LittleBigPlanet - a more robust creation engine that predated Mario Maker by years - dies with a whimper. Community members are reporting that resource servers, the servers that actually house levels and other player-made content, are currently still online, but with the game servers