Media Moleculewill continue to put its unique spin on game creation and player interaction, and Sony is reportedly still banking on the developer.Media Moleculehas been creating games since it was founded in 2006, and Sony acquired the company in 2010, a few years after Media Molecule’s first big success,LittleBigPlanet. Since then, Media Molecule has worked on several projects, including a few sequels toLittleBigPlanet, theTearawayseries, andDreams, which released early last year. According to the company’s studio director Siobhan Reddy, Sony wants to continue investing in Media Molecule to help foster a creative gaming environment for PlayStation fans.
Some key components of Media Molecule’s most successful games are the creation tools provided for players which allow them to personalize their gaming experiences. TheLittleBigPlanetgames started this trend with their emphasis on user-generated content and encouraged players to interact with one another with the series slogan, “Play, Create, Share.“Dreamsfollowed up on this concept, designed primarily as a game creation system through which players can make their own games and share them with other gamers.Dreamscelebrated its first yearof existence in February, and many gamers have already made videos, games, and art with the system.
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However, with an abundance of creations available to view inDreams, some gamers feel that Media Molecule isn’t doing enough to promote creators using its game creation system. Siobhan Reddy says that Sony’s continued investment in Media Molecule will allow the company to focus more on the curation of user-generated content.Reddy recently received the BAFTA Fellowship awardfor fostering a “creative and collaborative working culture,” and she hopes to carry this attitude over to the Dreamiverse to ensureDreamscan “connect people to the content they’re going to want to play.”
Sony’s investment has primarily centered on hiring more staff to work on the “live product” side ofDreams. Hired programmers have been able to assist with adding new categories for players to select when “dreamsurfing” like racing games, arcade games, and visual art projects. Media Molecule also wants to make sure that old creations can resurface as part of annual or seasonal events like theAll Hallows Dreams eventstarted last year. Although Media Molecule has preferred a limited staff model in the past,Dreamsis the kind of game that requires developer input to make sure the public’s creations are seen by a wide audience.
AlthoughMedia Molecule has its own annual Impy Awardsceremony with the purpose of recognizing and awarding gamers for their outstanding creations inDreams, the company is trying to branch out and make more of an effort to curate user creations. The company is also working on a system that would allow players to fully export content fromDreamsto share on platforms outside of PlayStation. This may give even more freedom toDreamscreators and keep the game’s player base excited and active.
