Sackboy is a fictional character and main protagonist of the LittleBigPlanet video game series published by Sony Interactive Entertainment.

Introduced in the 2008 video game LittleBigPlanet, Sackboy is a small, anthropomorphic, humanoid doll-like character made of burlap sack with a brown knit pattern by default, with a zip fastener and button eyes.

[6] In the main series LittleBigPlanet video games, Sackboy is represented by four emotional states: happiness, sadness, worry and anger, each of which comes in three levels of intensity and can be controlled by players.

[6] Some of Sackboy's licensed costumes are inspired by other video game series, including Assassin's Creed, God of War, Uncharted, Metal Gear Solid, Ape Escape, Wipeout, Street Fighter and MotorStorm.

Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) marketing staff member Mark Valledor indicated in a 2008 interview that Sackboy was intended to become the "next emblematic character" for the PlayStation 3 as LittleBigPlanet ushers in "a new genre of gaming".

[9] According to Tom O'Connor, senior producer at Sony XDEV, the Liverpool-based division responsible for external development and the management of the LittleBigPlanet franchise, Sackboy evolved over time because the game series needed a key avatar.

[3] Sackboy was originally concepted as Mr. Yellowhead, the main character of an early precursor of LittleBigPlanet dubbed Craftworld, which was envisioned as a physics-based 2D side-scrolling game.

[10][6] On 1 December 2005, the four founders of Media Molecule, Kareem Ettouney, Alex Evans, Mark Healey, and David Smith, met with Phil Harrison, the head of development for Sony Worldwide Studios at the time, to pitch Craftworld.

[11] Harrison's subsequent enthusiasm for the game involved him participating in a three-hour brainstorming session with the Media Molecule representatives, which was extended from the original half an hour presentation.

[12][13] At this stage, Mr. Yellowhead had a small pink square body and a triangular yellow head, and was described as consisting of a set of "simple shapes" which is essentially placeholder debug programmer art" created by David Smith for the first playable CraftWorld code.

[6] Ettouney credited Smith, a programmer for LittleBigPlanet, for helping to finalize the design process and solidify the efforts of the artists and as an example of teamwork dynamics in the early days of the company.

[11] The name "Craftworld" would be used for the in-game universe where the LittleBigPlanet series takes place and the planet where Sackboy lives, which is created by ideas and dreams floating out of human heads during sleep.

[6] Pang said the final version of Sackboy's legs felt cute but stumpy and very different from the language of his arms; more importantly, running and jumping movements came across as "weird" when animated.

[6] Examples of how Sackboy's material would behave in death animations include the character thread being caught which leads to him being literally unraveled, and his fluff spilling out everywhere after bursting apart.

[6] Inspiration was drawn from the Tom and Jerry cartoon series when framing the death animations as fairly violent, but still harmless and funny.

Following the release of the first game, Media Molecule started working with other brands to make licensed downloadable costumes as DLC purchases.

[11] Sackboy has been featured in promotional material for the PlayStation brand,[17][18] as well as a wide range of merchandise, such as stuffed toys, fibreglass replicas and cardboard cut-outs.

[3] Media Molecule staff said they received a high volume of requests for physical representations of Sackboy, in particular plush dolls, following the release of the first game.

[20] This helped promote the latest installment (at the time) to the LittleBigPlanet series by offering exclusive costumes for the player by completing goals and challenges.

[29][30][31][32][33][34][35] In 2024, a poll conducted by BAFTA with around 4,000 respondents named Sackboy as the fifth most iconic video game character of all time, behind Lara Croft, Mario, Agent 47 and Sonic the Hedgehog.

[38] Minecraft created a LittleBigPlanet Mash-up world[39] featuring music and items from the game series, and also included Sackboy and other major characters as costumes for the player.