"Canceled Twisted Metal Game Blended Vehicular Combat, Shooting, and Battle Royale, Developer Reveals"

Brand new images of Sony's canceled Twisted Metal game have surfaced online, revealing that developer Firesprite was crafting a live service game that combined the franchise's iconic vehicular combat with battle royale elements. These images, which were uploaded by a former UI developer at Sony-owned Firesprite to their online portfolio, are blurred and marked "Under NDA." They fall under the codename Project Copper, believed to be the internal name for this unannounced live-service Twisted Metal title.

Twisted Metal, a beloved vehicle combat franchise that originated on the PSone and last saw a new entry during the PlayStation 3 era, was described by the developer as a "third-person vehicular action combat game based on a classic IP owned by PlayStation and developed by Firesprite." The developer further explained that "it had third-person shooter mechanics wrapped with third-person vehicle combat with the objective of being the last one standing," according to MP1st.

Sony reportedly canceled the Twisted Metal project as part of widespread layoffs announced in February 2024. At the time, the game "wasn't yet greenlit" but was in development at the UK studio Firesprite, which was confirmed to have been affected by the cuts.

The 100 Best PlayStation Games of All Time

100 Images

The cancellation of Twisted Metal is part of a broader retreat from live service games at Sony, following an ambitious push to create more of these titles. Naughty Dog halted development on The Last of Us Online in December 2023, citing the need to allocate all resources to post-launch content for years, which would have hindered their ability to produce future single-player games.

Despite the success of Arrowhead’s Helldivers 2, which became the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios game ever with 12 million copies sold in just 12 weeks, Sony faced a significant setback with their live service hero shooter Concord. It was one of the biggest flops in PlayStation history, lasting only a few weeks before being taken offline due to extremely low player engagement. Sony eventually decided to terminate the game entirely and close its developer.

In January, Sony also canceled two other unannounced live service games: one was a God of War title in development at Bluepoint, and the other was being developed by the Days Gone team at Bend.

Although it seems unlikely we'll see another Twisted Metal game soon, fans can look forward to the Twisted Metal TV series starring Anthony Mackie, which is set to return for Season 2 on Peacock. IGN's review of Season 1 awarded it an 8/10, stating, "Though overloaded with jokes at times, Twisted Metal is a miraculously enjoyable blend of comedy, violence, and thoughtfulness."