Brand new images of Sony's canceled Twisted Metal game have surfaced online, revealing that developer Firesprite was working on a live service game that mixed the series' iconic vehicular combat with battle royale elements. A former UI developer at Sony-owned Firesprite shared several screenshots in their online portfolio. Although the images are blurred and marked "Under NDA," they're tagged with the codename Project Copper, which is thought to be the internal name for the unreleased live-service Twisted Metal game.
Twisted Metal, a vehicle combat franchise that debuted on the PSone and hasn't seen a new release since the PlayStation 3 era, was set to evolve with Project Copper. The developer described it as a "third-person vehicular action combat game based on a classic IP owned by PlayStation and developed by Firesprite." They further elaborated that the game would incorporate "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 amid widespread layoffs announced in February 2024. At that point, the game had not been officially greenlit, but it was being developed at UK studio Firesprite, which Sony confirmed was affected by the layoffs.
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Twisted Metal was sidelined as part of Sony's broader retreat from live service games, following an intense internal drive to develop more of these titles. Naughty Dog halted work on The Last of Us Online in December 2023, citing the need to dedicate all resources to post-launch content for years, which would have severely limited their capacity 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 turned out to be one of the most significant failures in PlayStation's history. It lasted only a few weeks before being taken offline due to extremely low player numbers, leading Sony to cancel the game completely and close its developer.
In January, Sony canceled two other unannounced live service games: one being a God of War title from Bluepoint and another from the Days Gone developer Bend.
Although it seems unlikely we'll 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 Twisted Metal 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."
