LittleBigPlanet HUB

LittleBigPlanet HUB
Developer:	Sumo Digital
Intended publisher:	Sony Computer Entertainment
System(s):	PlayStation 3
Planned release:	Late 2013
Genre:	Action, Platformer
Supported players:	1-4
Status before cancellation:	Late in development
Status of build(s):	Internal Beta build dumped, retail Title IDs found

To do: Document information about what was found in LBP2 and LBP3.

LittleBigPlanet HUB is an unreleased LittleBigPlanet game developed by Sumo Digital. Originally slated for a late 2013 release, it was intended to be a free-to-play experience allowing anyone with a PlayStation 3 system to play, create and share their own levels. The game would have featured an unrestricted Create Mode in the same vein as LittleBigPlanet 2, and the story modes from both it and its predecessor were intended to be playable, though only the first worlds would have been given out for free.

The game was never completed or released, though various leftovers from the game can be found in the data for both LittleBigPlanet 2 and LittleBigPlanet 3. By examining these remnants, the community has been able to piece together some of the features that were planned for HUB. An Internal Beta was eventually dumped and released online on February 25, 2024, offering an unparalleled into what the game would've been like, had it seen an official release.

Gameplay

One of the game's unique features includes racing against ghosts of other players.

LittleBigPlanet HUB is essentially a modified version of LittleBigPlanet 2, and as such retains the exact same gameplay and physics, but with various UI tweaks, both major and minor.

One of the major additions planned for HUB were Player Challenges: in any level that supported them, players could record their movement and stats between two Checkpoints, and use their performance to set challenges for other players — such as collecting a certain number of Prize Bubbles, or achieving a certain Score Multiplier. Separately, Story Challenges took existing levels from the first and second games and tasked players with completing certain objectives to earn Medals.

The game also contains a unique set of 55 Pins, many of which are related to the new Challenge features. Notably, this set includes Pins related to level kits that otherwise did not have distinct Pins or Trophies, such as the Marvel and Toy Story Level Kits.

In the Internal Beta, HUB does not feature much in the way of original content beyond its bespoke Introduction level and customary Stephen Fry narration. Had the game seen an official release, it likely would have replaced LittleBigPlanet 2 as a hub for future downloadable content, although how this would have affected the then-unannounced LittleBigPlanet 3 is unclear.

History

Not much is known about LittleBigPlanet HUB's development, though it appears to have been developed concurrently with LittleBigPlanet 3. It was initially announced at Gamescom 2013 with a tentative release window of "later this year". A pre-rendered trailer was shown off at the event, though no gameplay or screenshots were released. Sometime in January 2014, information about a private beta had leaked onto the internet. From this leak, five screenshots were posted, and the nature of Challenges were clarified as being split into Player Challenges and Story Challenges.

News on LittleBigPlanet HUB became more scarce in the months before and after the announcement of LittleBigPlanet 3 at E3 2014. The game's future became uncertain in the eyes of the community, with the shift towards the newly-announced numbered entry being cited as the reason for the lack of updates. At one point, Sony considered bringing the game to the PlayStaion 4. Pete Smith told Leon Hurley from Kotaku that they "just got a bit sidetracked with [LittleBigPlanet 3] is the truth of it. Once we introduced PS4 into the mix, it was complicated because would we launch on ps3? Now we want to get everything in order with LBP3, with the dual platform game. Hub will come."

Despite reassurances from Steven and Pete, the silence regarding LittleBigPlanet HUB continued well after LittleBigPlanet 3's release. While it was never explicitly stated by Sony or Sumo Digital, it eventually became clear that the game had been silently cancelled. On May 7, 2024, a user in the LittleBigWorkshop Discord server enquired about LittleBigPlanet HUB's development, to which Steven Isbell replied with the following statement:

“	The main one that I can share though is the primary reason that LittleBigPlanet Hub wasn't released in the end is simply because we ultimately decided that it would be best to not splinter the community across two "mainline" titles on the same console via LittleBigPlanet 3 and LittleBigPlanet Hub. LittleBigPlanet 3 was the far more advanced title at the time of this decision and it was also the more marketable version for obvious reasons since it's easier for the casual player to follow the sequence path of 1>2>3 as evolutions of the series. So the decision was made to invest our efforts towards LittleBigPlanet 3 completely and make that the one-stop shop for the community.	„
— Steven Isbell on LittleBigPlanet HUB's cancellation

Legacy and Preservation

Following its cancellation, much of the game's content and UI elements were reused for LittleBigPlanet 3 in some form — for example, the Social and Store interfaces were recycled wholesale, albeit with some slight adjustments. Other remnants, such as unused text and dialogue have also been found in LBP3's files, with the PlayStation 4 version containing a handful of unused graphics.

In 2015, Game Update 1.14 added all of HUB's sound effects and background ambience, though they were not used at the time of their inclusion.

In 2016, the assets from HUB's Introduction level were retooled and officially released in the Seaside Surprise Level Kit, though the sound effects and ambience were included in completely separate sound banks tailor made for the DLC, rather than using the existing banks introduced in a previous update. Challenges would also be implemented in October that same year, albeit in name only; rather than using the original system of racing against ghosts of other players, challenges in LittleBigPlanet 3 take the form of minigame levels that rotate every two weeks, each offering Pins based on the player's score.

In 2024, nearly a decade after the beta trial had supposedly ended, the first video footage of the Internal Beta was posted to the internet by the Russian LittleBigPlanet community. A few days later, the build was dumped and released onto the internet. The level featured in this build appears to be very similar to the one showcased in the leaked screenshots from January 2014.

Gallery

Screenshots

• 

  A player in front of a checkpoint with a "Stop Challenge?" prompt at the top of the screen.

• 

  A player in the middle of a challenge.

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  Another shot of a player in front of a checkpoint, this time with a "Challenges?" prompt on screen.

• 

  A shot of the starting area of Currant Affairs with a "Challenges?" prompt at the top of the screen.

• 

  Another shot of the glowing entrance in Currant Affairs.

External Links

• Internet Archive release page (defunct)
• Hidden Palace release page
• Official Announcement on LittleBigPlanet.com (archive)