14 DAY TRIAL // Yesterday David Reeves, who is the head of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, talked a bit about LittleBigPlanet, one of the most eagerly expected games for the PlayStation 3 which is coming in October. One of the most interesting things he had to say was that the user generated content related to the game might be monetized, with some users, those who create very good experiences, able to sell their levels to the other players.
David Reeves created a very nice tagline by saying that the model would be something like "iTunes meets eBay", with all the flexibility of a digital distribution level and the pricing that an auction-like system can create. The SCEA boss joked that LittleBigPlanet would quickly create millionaires.
Now Sony is clarifying some of the things that it said, stating that "SCEE and Media Molecule can guarantee that all consumer-generated content will be free at launch. We know how important this is to the LBP community and what we want most is for people to enjoy playing, creating and sharing their content". But it also made it very clear that it was testing the market to see how gamers might react to paying for user generated content.
LittleBigPlanet is a game designed around the possibility to create your own adventure using a vast set of tools that the developers at Media Molecule have included in the game. There will be some pre-made levels that ship with the game, but Sony is betting on the fact that players will collaborate to create new and exciting stuff, which will pretty much turn gamers into content creators. Still, they are now adamant to convey the fact that any decision regarding monetization of user generated content and pricing levels will only be made by the company after a consultation that will involve gamers.