Footage of what’s claimed to be an “internal demo” of LittleBigPlanet Hub – the free-to-play PS3 exclusive announced initially, and expected to be released, in 2013 – has popped up online.
Whilst the game was never formally cancelled, it was never released, either, which makes the footage – which is complete with voicework from series stalwart Stephen Fry and the costumes and gameplay long associated with the family-friendly platformer – all the more surprising.
“LittleBigPlanet Hub beta official gameplay full walkthrough recorded in 2013,” is all the YouTube video’s description says, with a later Short from the same account alleging that the build was still live and could still be downloaded.
Later in the comments, the poster says they recorded the footage themselves when they were a “beta tester” for the unreleased game – which is widely thought to have later become the building blocks of LittleBigPlanet 3 – back in 2013.
As spotted by the folks of Gaming Leaks and Rumours (but since deleted), some speculate that the footage may have been taken under a 10-year NDA that’s since expired, but without formal confirmation from Sony or Media Molecule – which may never be forthcoming – we can only chalk this up as a rumour or an elaborate prank for now.
You can expect more footage to pop up in the coming days, too, as it seems the build itself has now reportedly leaked.
Earlier this month, we learned that PC and PlayStation 5 versions of Media Moelcule’s game creation platform Dreams had been cancelled.
Industry insider Lance McDonald said that whilst the PC and PS5 ports of Dreams had been “near-complete”, they were cancelled around the same time 15-20 per cent of the studio was laid off at the end of last year.