"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, offering a glimpse into what could have been an innovative live service game that combined the series' iconic vehicular combat with battle royale mechanics.

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 tagged under the codename Project Copper, which is believed to have been the internal name for the unannounced live-service Twisted Metal game.

Twisted Metal, a beloved vehicle combat franchise that originated on the PSone and hasn't seen a new installment since 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." The developer described Project Copper as a game that integrated third-person shooter mechanics with vehicular combat, aiming for a "last one standing" objective (credit to MP1st).

Sony reportedly canceled Twisted Metal amid mass layoffs announced in February 2024. At the time of cancellation, the game "wasn't yet greenlit" but was being developed at Firesprite, a UK studio affected by the layoffs.

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100 ImagesTwisted Metal was one of several live service projects Sony decided to pull back from following an internal push to develop more of these games. Naughty Dog halted development on The Last of Us Online in December 2023, citing the need for extensive resources for post-launch content that would have hindered their ability to create future single-player titles.

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 major disappointment. 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 a God of War title being developed by Bluepoint, and the other from Days Gone developer Bend.

Although it seems unlikely that 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 Season 2 on Peacock. IGN's review of Season 1 gave it an 8/10, stating: "Though overloaded with jokes at times, Twisted Metal is a miraculously enjoyable blend of comedy, violence, and thoughtfulness."