New images of Sony's canceled Twisted Metal game have surfaced online, revealing that developer Firesprite was working on a live service game that combined the series' iconic vehicular combat with battle royale elements. A former UI developer at Sony-owned Firesprite shared several screenshots on their online portfolio, although the images are blurred and marked "Under NDA." These images are tagged with the codename Project Copper, which is thought to be the internal name for the unannounced live-service Twisted Metal game.

Twisted Metal, a vehicle combat franchise that originated on the PSone and last saw a new release during 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." According to the developer, Project Copper featured third-person shooter mechanics integrated with third-person vehicle combat, with the goal of being the last player standing.

Sony reportedly canceled Twisted Metal amid mass layoffs announced in February 2024. At the time, the game had not yet been officially greenlit but was in development at the UK studio Firesprite, which was affected by the layoffs.

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The cancellation of Twisted Metal reflects a broader retreat from live service games at Sony, following an aggressive 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 for years, which would have hindered their ability to create future single-player games.

While Helldivers 2 by Arrowhead 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 significant failure. It lasted only a few weeks before being taken offline due to extremely low player numbers, 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 another at 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 a second season on Peacock. IGN's review of Season 1 gave it an 8/10, praising it as "a miraculously enjoyable blend of comedy, violence, and thoughtfulness," despite its occasional overload of humor.