New images from Sony's canceled Twisted Metal game have surfaced online, revealing that developer Firesprite was working on a live service game that combined the franchise's renowned vehicular combat with battle royale elements. A former UI developer at Sony-owned Firesprite shared several screenshots on their online portfolio. These images, although blurred and marked "Under NDA," fall under the codename Project Copper, believed to be the internal name for the unannounced live-service Twisted Metal game.
Despite Twisted Metal being a vehicle combat series that started on the PSone and last released on the PlayStation 3, the developer described Project Copper as a "third-person vehicular action combat game based on a classic IP owned by PlayStation and developed by Firesprite." They further explained that the game incorporated "third-person shooter mechanics wrapped with third-person vehicle combat with the objective of being the last one standing" (thanks, MP1st).
Sony reportedly canceled Twisted Metal as part of mass layoffs announced in February 2024. At that time, the game "wasn't yet greenlit" but had been in development at UK studio Firesprite, which was affected by the layoffs.
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Twisted Metal was shelved amid a broader retreat from live service games at Sony, following a significant internal push to develop more of these titles. Naughty Dog halted work on The Last of Us Online in December 2023, stating that the project would have required all resources to be dedicated to post-launch content for years, severely impacting their ability to create future single-player games.
While Arrowhead's Helldivers 2 became a breakout 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 faced a starkly different fate. It was one of the biggest video game flops in PlayStation history, lasting only a couple of weeks before being taken offline due to extremely low player engagement. Sony later decided to terminate the game and shut down its developer.
In January, Sony canceled two unannounced live service games: one a God of War title developed by Bluepoint, and the other in development at Days Gone's developer Bend.
Although it seems unlikely we'll see another 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 awarded it an 8/10, stating, "Though overloaded with jokes at times, Twisted Metal is a miraculously enjoyable blend of comedy, violence, and thoughtfulness."
