LittleBigPlanet developer Media Molecule is reportedly working on a new social-sim game, similar to Animal Crossing, and it may release next year.
According to a new report from MP1st, Media Molecule has been tinkering away on its next game for quite some time now. The studio’s next project is reportedly in the vein of Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon, utilizing the kinds of social-simulation elements that those games are known for. Not much else was revealed about its gameplay, but this report goes on to say that the team will announce and release the title in 2027, should everything go according to plan.
Earlier this year, a Media Molecule employee revealed that the next game on their resume would be open-world, creating all kinds of speculation about what the studio was drumming up. The developer’s last game, Dreams, was released in early 2020, but failed to catch on despite being extremely ambitious. This also comes at a time when PlayStation is being particularly brutal with where it’s choosing to invest its money.
Media Molecule’s fate may hinge on the success of its next project, since Dreams failed to soar. Hideo Kojima’s next game, Physint, was nearly canceled by PlayStation until Xbox came in and saved it. PlayStation also shuttered Bluepoint earlier this year and made significant cuts to Bungie following the underperformance of Marathon. Hopefully, Media Molecule can make something that can replicate the success of Animal Crossing, but on PlayStation.