Source: analoghype.com
When we heard about LittleBigPlanet for the first time round, we all got a huge buzz from the demo that was presented way back in GDC 2007. That buz was to be carried over for another year and a half till the game got released. What happened then? Sony's new "Mario" franchise suffered in it's expected sales in both North America and Europe. Not long after that the game's retail price lowered which, helped the game along with a new European add campaign to some degree as it the sales improved by 58% in that region. Sales in North America are an estimate of about 700,000 which is moderately good, but for a game that was anticipated and hyped by the majority of Playstation gamers, it was quite disappointing. So I bring forth this argument, should Sony give up with DLC for LittleBigPlanet?
The answer is clear as day, yes. Even a blind man can see that it's not affecting game sells (bear in mind that this is a title that sold gradually over a period of a year and with Sony announcing that there was 1.3 million users for LittleBigPlanet can only further explain how the game tanked in Japan). However in saying that, a way in which Sony and Media Molecule can improve is to release constant expansions such as the Metal Gear Solid 4 one which had impressive sales across the board. I'm sure if they were to push a few more expansions like this and release a GOTY edition or Platinum with all the added content then it can get to where it was invisioned to be, but it seems like the stubborn Sony execs won't do that just yet. Expansions are rather the way to go about a game like this, but gamers could argue that the whole "Play, Create, Share's" purpose would be defeated.
Also, with not that many gamers actually playing the game it's hard to find good quality levels. The whole idea of "Play, Create, Share" was something we thought would revolutionise platform gaming, and for the most part it did but failed. So the ideal way forward for Sony is to release more expansions similar to the Metal Gear pack to see an increase in sales for the game which would also help sales develop for the DLC.
