Twisted Metal Game Cancellation: Vehicular Combat, Shooter, Battle Royale Blend

Brand new images of Sony's canceled Twisted Metal game have surfaced online, suggesting developer Firesprite was creating a live-service title that combined the series' signature vehicular combat with battle royale elements.

A former UI developer at Sony-owned Firesprite shared several screenshots on their online portfolio. While intentionally blurred and marked "Under NDA," the images are associated with the codename "Project Copper," widely believed to be the internal designation for the unannounced Twisted Metal live-service game.

Despite Twisted Metal's history as a vehicle combat franchise originating on the PSone and absent from new releases since the PlayStation 3 era, the developer described Project Copper as "a third-person vehicular action combat game based on a classic PlayStation IP and developed by Firesprite." They further explained, "It featured third-person shooter mechanics integrated with third-person vehicle combat, with the goal of being the last player standing." (Source: MP1st)

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

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Twisted Metal's cancellation aligns with Sony's apparent scaling back of live-service game development following a significant internal push in that direction. Naughty Dog halted development on The Last of Us Online in December 2023, citing the years-long commitment to post-launch content that would severely impact its single-player game development.

While Arrowhead's Helldivers 2 was a resounding success, becoming the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios game ever with 12 million copies sold in just 12 weeks, Sony's live-service hero shooter, Concord, proved a major setback, lasting only a few weeks before being shut down due to extremely low player numbers. Sony subsequently dissolved the game's development studio.

In January, Sony canceled two further unannounced live-service games: a God of War title from Bluepoint and another from Days Gone developer Bend Studio.

Although a new Twisted Metal game seems unlikely in the near future, the Twisted Metal TV series starring Anthony Mackie is set to return for Season 2 on Peacock. IGN's review of Season 1 awarded it an 8/10, praising it as "a miraculously enjoyable blend of comedy, violence, and thoughtfulness," despite occasional over-reliance on jokes.