Brand new images of Sony's canceled Twisted Metal game have surfaced online, suggesting that developer Firesprite was crafting a live service experience that merged the franchise's iconic vehicular combat with battle royale gameplay.
A former UI developer at Sony-owned Firesprite shared several screenshots on their online portfolio. Although the images are blurred and marked "Under NDA," they are listed under the codename Project Copper, thought to be the internal name for the unannounced live-service Twisted Metal game.
Twisted Metal, a vehicle combat video game series that debuted on the PSone and last saw a release during the PlayStation 3 era, was being reimagined by Firesprite as a "third-person vehicular action combat game based on a classic IP owned by PlayStation and developed by Firesprite."
According to the developer, Project Copper featured "third-person shooter mechanics wrapped with third-person vehicle combat with the objective of being the last one standing" (thanks, MP1st).
Sony reportedly canceled the Twisted Metal project during mass layoffs announced in February 2024. At that time, the game "wasn't yet greenlit," but it was being developed at UK studio Firesprite, which Sony confirmed was affected by the layoffs.
The 100 Best PlayStation Games of All Time
100 Images
Twisted Metal was abandoned amid Sony's broader retreat from live service games, following an intense internal drive to produce more of these titles. Naughty Dog halted development on The Last of Us Online in December 2023, citing that maintaining it would require dedicating all their resources to post-launch content for years, which would hinder their capacity to create future single-player games.
While Arrowhead’s Helldivers 2 became a smashing success, selling 12 million copies in just 12 weeks to become the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios game ever, Sony's live service hero shooter Concord turned out to be a colossal failure. It lasted only a few weeks before being taken offline due to extremely low player engagement, eventually leading Sony to terminate the game and shutter its developer.
In January, Sony canceled two unannounced live service games, one being a God of War project at Bluepoint and another at Days Gone developer Bend.
Although it seems unlikely we'll see a new Twisted Metal game soon, the Twisted Metal TV series starring Anthony Mackie is set to return for Season 2 on Peacock. IGN's review of Twisted Metal Season 1 scored it an 8/10, stating: "Though overloaded with jokes at times, Twisted Metal is a miraculously enjoyable blend of comedy, violence, and thoughtfulness."
