"Canceled Twisted Metal Game: A Mix of Vehicular Combat, Shooting, and Battle Royale"

New images from Sony's canceled Twisted Metal game have surfaced online, revealing that developer Firesprite was working on a live service game that combined the franchise's iconic vehicular combat with battle royale elements. These images were shared by a former UI developer at Sony-owned Firesprite on their online portfolio. Although the screenshots are blurred and marked "Under NDA," they are tagged with the codename Project Copper, which is thought to be the internal name for this unreleased Twisted Metal live-service game.

The Twisted Metal series, known for its vehicle combat gameplay, originated on the PSone and has not seen a new installment since the PlayStation 3 era. According to the developer, Project Copper was described as a "third-person vehicular action combat game" rooted in a classic PlayStation IP and developed by Firesprite. The game aimed to integrate third-person shooter mechanics with vehicular combat, with the goal of being the last player standing, as reported by MP1st.

Sony's decision to cancel Twisted Metal came as part of widespread layoffs announced in February 2024. At that time, the game was still in development at the UK-based studio Firesprite and had not yet been officially greenlit.

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The cancellation of Twisted Metal reflects Sony's broader retreat from live service games, following a significant internal effort to develop more of these titles. Naughty Dog halted work 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 create future single-player games.

While Arrowhead’s Helldivers 2 became a massive success, selling 12 million copies in just 12 weeks and becoming the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios game ever, Sony's live service hero shooter Concord was a notable failure. It lasted only a few weeks before being taken offline due to extremely low player engagement, eventually leading Sony to cancel the game and shut down its developer.

In January, Sony also canceled two other unannounced live service games: one from Bluepoint working on a God of War title, and another from Days Gone developer Bend.

Although fans won't see a new Twisted Metal game in the near future, the Twisted Metal TV series starring Anthony Mackie is set to return for a second season on Peacock. IGN's review of the first season gave it an 8/10, praising it as "a miraculously enjoyable blend of comedy, violence, and thoughtfulness," despite its occasional overload of humor.