A release date has been announced for Ultimate Sackboy, the next mobile spin-off of the LittleBigPlanet franchise. After over eight years since the last mainline entry, the LittleBigPlanet series has been carried by its multiple spin-offs.
The original LittleBigPlanet was released in 2008 and started the series as one of the PS3's best first-party titles. Subsequent games were positively received, but the series has been relatively quiet since the last mainline entry, LittleBigPlanet 3, released in 2014. Media Molecule, the series' original developer, shifted focus away from it after LittleBigPlanet 2 to prioritize development on the game Dreams which released in 2020 and, like LittleBigPlanet, had a strong emphasis on game creation. Dreams has been used in some truly impressive ways by players, a strong example being a player who recreated Halo Infinite in Dreams.
A new mainline LittleBigPlanet game has been a long request from fans, but the series has been far from silent thanks to a number of spin-off titles. The player character of Sackboy has had plenty of time in the spotlight with one of the launch titles for the PS5 being Sackboy: A Big Adventure which itself contained easter eggs to LittleBigPlanet for longtime fans to pick up on. Fans will thankfully not have to wait much longer for the next LittleBigPlanet spin-off. This next entry is Ultimate Sackboy, a free-to-play runner game that releases for mobile on February 21.
Developer and publisher Exient announced the release date of Ultimate Sackboy in a blog post on January 18. Players can now pre-register the game on the Google Play Store. It is similar in style to an older mobile spinoff of LittleBigPlanet titled Run Sackboy! Run! Ultimate Sackboy seems to be part of the efforts to broaden the PlayStation mobile games division as was seen previously with the Sony acquisition of mobile developer Savage Game Studios.
Unlike companies like Nintendo, Sony has historically not supported its franchises long-term. Many PlayStation series, no matter how successful, will only have a handful of titles before either ending or fading into obscurity. Some franchises like Killzone have been dormant for nearly a decade, and other games like Bloodborne and The Order: 1886 have never gotten sequels or any kind of follow-up after over seven years. With the latest efforts by Sony to branch out into the mobile market, there is hope that more PlayStation franchises can come back from the dead for a new generation.
Ultimate Sackboy releases for Mobile on February 21.
Source: Exient