Sony is facing some angry criticism for allegedly copying Sackboy costume entries and selling them on as DLC. The costumes Sony offers are believed by some to have been designed by non-winning entries to a costume contest, being sold without due credit given.
Official PlayStation forum posters have pointed out the similarities between Sony’s DLC and fan-designed costumes, which include the Shark suit we talked about a while ago. You can check out the similarities here, and I think you will agree that they’re incredibly similar, to the point where it could almost be considered blatant.
Sony is calling the situation a complete coincidence. “This was always going to be a possibility when we ran the costumer competition – releasing new costumes which are similar in theme to ones that were entered,” explained a Sony community rep. “Here’s the fact of the matter. The art team who are responsible for designing new original (ie unlicensed) costumes were involved at the very final stage of judging, by which time the number of entries had been whittled down to 10 from each batch of entries (Europe, Japan, USA).
“If at any time we take inspiration from a costume competition entry that didn’t win overall we will contact the creator directly.”
So, coincidence, or dirty plagiarism? Either way, it’s Sony’s property, so it’s Sony’s right to give credit and use whatever assets it wants. That doesn’t make it classy, however. It’s not like Sony would ever admit to ripping off a fan, whether it did or not, so we’ll never not for sure. They really are bloody similar though.
