Exciting yet elusive glimpses of Sony's canceled Twisted Metal game have surfaced online, revealing that Firesprite, the developer, was crafting a live service game that fused the series' iconic vehicular combat with battle royale elements. A former UI developer at the Sony-owned studio shared a series of screenshots on their online portfolio. These images, although blurred and marked "Under NDA," are tagged under the codename Project Copper, widely speculated 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 and hasn't seen a new release since the PlayStation 3 era. 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 integrated "third-person shooter mechanics wrapped with third-person vehicle combat with the objective of being the last one standing," according to MP1st.

Sony reportedly pulled the plug on Twisted Metal amid mass layoffs announced in February 2024. At that time, the game had not yet been greenlit, but development was underway at the UK-based studio Firesprite, which was affected by the layoffs.

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The cancellation of Twisted Metal reflects Sony's broader retreat from live service games, following a significant internal push to develop more of these titles. Naughty Dog halted development on The Last of Us Online in December 2023, citing the need to dedicate all resources to post-launch content, which would have hindered their ability to create future single-player games.

While Arrowhead’s Helldivers 2 achieved remarkable success, becoming the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios game ever with 12 million copies sold in just 12 weeks, Sony's live service hero shooter Concord faced a stark contrast, becoming one of the most significant failures in PlayStation history. It lasted merely a few weeks before being taken offline due to dismal player counts, eventually leading Sony to cancel the game and shutter its developer.

In January, Sony canceled two more unannounced live service games, one being a God of War title developed by Bluepoint, and the other from the Days Gone developer Bend.

Although fans may not 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 Twisted Metal Season 1 awarded it an 8/10, praising it as "a miraculously enjoyable blend of comedy, violence, and thoughtfulness," despite occasional overloads of humor.