Report: Cancelled Twisted Metal Live Service Title Was a Battle Royale, Featuring Out of Vehicle Combat in Third-Person
It’s well known that PlayStation has been on a losing streak with a long list of recently canceled titles, shutting down many projects from its developers after internal restructurings, a list mostly composed of live service games.
One of these canceled live service titles was a game based on Twisted Metal, a classic PlayStation franchise that would have been revived by developer Firesprite with a focus on this multiplayer game model. According to a Bloomberg report last year, the game was canceled after layoffs impacted Firesprite as part of a large restructuring within Sony.
Other reports indicate that the game was intended to tie in with the TV adaptation released on Peacock. However, no more details emerged about what we would seen in the game. The good news is that thanks to the website of a former Firesprite employee, we can learn more small details that give us an idea of what it would have been, along with early development images.
A Radical Departure in the Franchise
This information comes from the website of someone who worked on the game as a UI programmer. According to a provided description, the game was internally known as Project Copper, and although it is not explicitly stated, it is suggested that the game was a battle royale. This information might be confusing because Twisted Metal is known for purely vehicular combat. Still, it makes sense if we remember the intentions of linking the game to the TV series, where the drivers take an equally relevant role.
The description mentions that the game was based “on a classic PlayStation IP,” which we know is Twisted Metal. It contained third-person shooting mechanics along with vehicular combat, with the game’s objective being “to be the last one standing.” If it couldn’t be more evident from that last line what the genre of the title was, some images reinforce this idea.
The images are censored with a blurry filter, but despite this, we can identify basic gameplay elements along with other details. In them, we can see very early environments where the player is seen in third-person using weapons, fighting other players, and driving a vehicle. In one image, we can see the description “Earn credits to avoid elimination,” which could have been a game mechanic. We also see common UI elements like health bars for the player and for what appear to be their teammates.
The last detail mentioned is that the game was being developed in Unreal Engine 5, a graphic engine that we know Firesprite is already familiar with, as their next horror game (rumored to be Until Dawn 2) is reportedly using it.
Unfortunately, we will have to wait longer to see if Sony decides to revive the franchise in a video game. It is possible, considering that the TV series was renewed for a second season, which only demonstrates that there is still public interest in the IP.
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I am so happy it was cancelled then.
Twisted Metal died with the PS3 abomination. The moment they said the characters weren’t important and thought people only cared about the cars, it ruined the series. I hated only having 3 characters/factions.
The whole point of TM was focusing on a single player story and adding in some fun MP options. That is all they need to do, a small scale single player game where you have 12 characters with messed up ‘wishes’ and then give people some online options as well.
Not everything needs to be open world, live service or battle royale.
Yep. Not surprised it was canceled. Would have been another battle royale live service game, which not everyone would be on board with.