LittleBigPlanet developer Media Molecule has released a statement regarding last week’s shocking turn of events which saw the PS3 “system-seller” recalled at the eleventh hour for featuring passages from the Koran.

The statement from the developer's website said: “At MM we were as shocked and dismayed by this as anyone - shellshocked and gutted”. In regards to the Koran passages that were discovered on one of the game’s licensed tracks, MM explained that the lyrics had “slipped through the usual screening processes”.

MM has also implied that it was Sony that took the decision on the recall the shipped discs: “Obviously MM and Sony together took this very seriously … within 12 hours of hearing about this issue involving a lyric (in Somalian, I believe!), Media Molecule had prepared an automatic day 0 patch and had a new disk image ready; however a decision was made within Sony that the right thing to do for quality and support of people with no on-line was to replace existing disks.”

The statement also claims that a patch will “go live at the same time as the game”,  presumably for the discs that have already been released.

The track in question, Tapha Niang by Malian kora player Toumani Diabate, has seen a surge in sales on the iTunes website. The track features two passages from the Islamic religious text: "kollo nafsin tha'iqatol mawt," meaning "Every soul shall have the taste of death"; and "kollo man alaiha fan," meaning "All that is on earth will perish."

Sony has declined to comment further on the issue.