Newly surfaced images of Sony's canceled Twisted Metal game have sparked interest online, revealing that Firesprite, the developer, was working on a live service game that combined the series' iconic vehicular combat with battle royale elements. These intriguing glimpses were shared by a former UI developer at Sony-owned Firesprite, who posted screenshots to their online portfolio. Although the images are blurred and marked "Under NDA," they fall under the codename Project Copper, thought to be the internal name for this unannounced live-service iteration of Twisted Metal.
Originally launched on the PSone, the Twisted Metal franchise is renowned for its vehicle combat gameplay, but it hasn't seen a new release since the PlayStation 3 era. According to the developer, Project Copper was envisioned as a "third-person vehicular action combat game based on a classic IP owned by PlayStation and developed by Firesprite." The game aimed to integrate third-person shooter mechanics with vehicular combat, with the ultimate goal of players surviving as the last one standing, as noted by MP1st.
Sony reportedly axed the Twisted Metal project amid widespread layoffs announced in February 2024. At that point, the game was not yet officially greenlit but was being developed by UK-based Firesprite, which was affected by the layoffs.
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The cancellation of Twisted Metal comes as part of Sony's broader retreat from live service games, following an aggressive internal push to develop more of these titles. Naughty Dog halted its work on The Last of Us Online in December 2023, citing the need to allocate all resources to post-launch content, which would have compromised their ability to create future single-player experiences.
While Arrowhead's Helldivers 2 achieved remarkable success, becoming the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios game ever with 12 million copies sold in 12 weeks, Sony's live service hero shooter Concord turned out to be a major flop. It lasted only a couple of weeks before being taken offline due to extremely low player counts. Eventually, Sony decided to terminate the game and close its developer.
Additionally, in January, Sony canceled two unannounced live service games: one from Bluepoint, which was working on a God of War title, and another from Bend, the studio behind Days Gone.
Although fans may have to wait longer for another Twisted Metal game, the Twisted Metal TV series starring Anthony Mackie is slated to return for Season 2 on Peacock. IGN's review of Twisted Metal Season 1 awarded it an 8/10, praising it as "a miraculously enjoyable blend of comedy, violence, and thoughtfulness," albeit noting it was sometimes overwhelmed with humor.
