Sony patches Quran text in Littlebigplanet

Patch 1.02 for the Playstation 3 game Littlebigplanet replaces the song ‘Tapha Niang’, which contains Quranic lyrics, with an instrumental version. In the Benelux, the original version of the game will only be available via import.

With the bring out of patch 1.02, Sony hopes to end the controversy surrounding the Playstation 3 game. The controversy started a week ago when a buyer discovered two lines from the Quran in the song by Malian artist Toumani Diabate, which is included in the game’s soundtrack. Putting verses from the Quran to music would be hurtful to Muslims. The patch replaces the song Tapha Niang with an instrumental version.

Sony immediately responded by removing the game from the store and destroying all Blu-ray discs. In the Benelux, Sony was there just in time: the game was at the distribution centers to be sent to stores and Sony was able to prevent the game from actually ending up in the store. The game has already been sold in countries such as the US and Great Britain. In the week of November 3, the cleaned version of the game will still be available in the store. The instrumental version of Diabate’s song can be heard in it. The new version also includes patch 1.01, which adds some extra costumes to the game.