Despite promises to the contrary, Sony now says there will be no open beta for the upcoming PlayStation 3 release LittleBigPlanet.
PS3 Fanboy reported on the change after speaking to both Community Development Manager Sam Bennett and Producer Pete Smith at PlayStation Day. Both said the game will undergo an internal beta phase at Sony, and while there is a possibility that a “small number” of gamers and press could be included in the program, an open beta test is not going to happen.
In place of the beta, Sony is apparently considering a demo release, although the contents of a demo and when it would be released are not yet known.
As recently as January, Kyle Shubel, Managing Producer of International Software Development at Sony, promised an open beta in a video posted on GameTrailers.com, and suggested a demo was also very likely. “We are still looking to do a demo,” he said. “It’ll be a derivative of a public beta … We’re gonna have to run a public beta, it’s an online title, we want to get you guys involved as possible.”
“That will be where we’re going to get a lot of our things ironed out,” he added, “and that’s where we’re also going to get some of the content that will be online when we launch the title.”
LittleBigPlanet, a “puzzle platformer and world creation” game, is currently in development by Media Molecule, a U.K.-based studio best known for the 2005 independent release Rag Doll Kung Fu. The PlayStation 3 exclusive is currently slated for release in October.
