Sony has said that there will be no payment system for user-created content in LittleBigPlanet "at launch".

A statement from Sony tells us, "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."

You'll notice the term "free at launch" there.

"Obviously, we're also excited about the future and David (Reeves) was talking about how user generated content could potentially evolve in the long term. Any decisions that are taken to evolve LBP in the future, will include the community and focus purely on enhancing the user experience."

David Reeves is, of course, president of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. Speaking in an interview on the official UK PlayStation site^†, Reeves said, "what we’re trying to do with LittleBigPlanet is almost iTunes meets eBay in the sense that once an individual or a developer has qualified by producing certain levels or certain add-ons, they will then be able in the future to exchange these and make money out of them. Eventually, it’s feasible that you might well see the first LittleBigPlanet millionaire!

"Even if you charge less than one euro, it doesn’t take many downloads if you’ve got a really strong LittleBigPlanet level for people to be able to make money. It’s a great way for people to show others what they can do."

With the phrase "at launch" prominent in Sony's statement, the possibility that a payment system could be brought in post-launch looms large. Sony declined to comment further on whether that will be the case. From Reeves' comments it sounds to SPOnG that a fair amount of thought has gone into this and that such a system is a strong possibility.

The original comments from Reeves have been met with a fair amount of ire by the online community. SPOnG, for its part, remains torn. The arty-farty bohemian in us says 'no way man, create for the love and keep the Man's greedy capitalist thinking out of this. Peace!' Meanwhile, the hard-nosed capitalist in us says 'goddam! If I create a product, why the hell shouldn't I be able to charge for it! Goddam hippies!'

For that matter, no-one will be forced to charge for their content and we expect plenty of gamers not to bother. Any user-generated content will also have to be pretty damn awesome and complex for folk to pay for it and not just try to copy it. Plus, developers and publishers charge us for post-launch content all the time, why shouldn't we?

Give us your take in the Forum.

^{†Source: PlayStation.com}