LittleBigPlanet Developer acquired by Sony

[Rob]

Straight from the official Sony Playstation Blog (http://blog.us.playstation.com/2010/03/media-molecule-officially-joins-the-playstation-family/) it was announced a few days ago that Sony has grabbed LittleBigPlanet developer Media Molecule. LBP is one of my favorite games in recent years simply because it allows me to play however I want by creating or sampling other peoples level creations. I don't know why it took so long for the awesome people at Media Molecule to come along and fill our PS3 with such goodness but I am glad it happened.

I'm a little worried though. When something as large as Sony consumes a smaller development team like Media Molecule they usually lose something in the process. Teams get bigger and pressure to perform could change MM's ability to churn out another LBP that still keeps people interested. Or even worse maybe the LBP series will be the only thing they get to work on to keep the big boss happy. Then again maybe it will just turn out that MM can use Sony's pockets to expand their team to include even more talent. I hope they take all that creative thought and use it to make another original title. Is this a good thing for MM and more importantly the PS3?

[Jason]

I think it most definitely is a good thing. Sony over the years have been a pretty good 'sugar daddy' compared to other large publishers like EA and perhaps even more evil in recent years, Activision.
It's certainly a good thing for the PS3, as it means that they've nabbed a very talented and perhaps more importantly, creative developer to work exclusively on their platforms. I think Media Molecule will do well out of the deal as well - it's no secret that Sony have deep pockets when the time is right, and with the critical and commercial success of LBP, I don't think Media Molecule will have to campaign too hard to get financial backing.
The one group I do worry for is the consumer - despite MM having previously stated that there will be no LBP2 on PS3, I wonder if Sony will want to see some return on their investment, and let's be honest - a LBP sequel would fly off the shelves. It might just be too tempting for Sony.