Mark Healey, one of the creators of LittleBigPlanet, shared a surprising tidbit about the game’s history. In an interview, he mentioned that Microsoft had shown a lot of interest in buying the rights to the game when it was still being made. If only that had been the case.
During the early stages, Healey revealed that there was no official contract between Media Molecule and Sony, the eventual publisher of LittleBigPlanet. This meant that Microsoft could potentially persuade the developers to change platforms. However, Media Molecule already had a good relationship with Sony, so switching to a different platform would have been ethically questionable.
Healey revealed what happened in an interview with MinnMax. After a night out, a Microsoft representative suggested to the Media Molecule team that they join Microsoft. According to Healey, the offer was made casually, and the representative seemed aware of the situation’s inappropriateness. “He mentioned that we could join Microsoft if we wanted to jump ship to them,” said Healey.
Despite the tempting offer, Media Molecule prioritized its growing partnership with Sony. Healey stressed that switching allegiances at this stage would be ethically questionable even without a formal contract. He also indicated that there were probably some legal obligations in place following Sony’s initial financial support for the project.
Going with Sony was indeed smart because the game utilized the best PS3 hardware to an extreme. However, the series’ direction and eventual dropping in favor of an adventure game was a true letdown to fans. I would be happy to hear of any publisher taking over because I love this series and hate to see it rot with no attention.
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