Fresh images of Sony's scrapped Twisted Metal game have surfaced online, suggesting Firesprite was crafting a live-service title that fused the series' iconic car combat with battle royale elements.

A former UI developer at Sony-owned Firesprite shared several screenshots on their online portfolio. Though blurred and marked "Under NDA," the images appear under the codename Project Copper, widely thought to be the internal title for the unannounced live-service Twisted Metal game.

While Twisted Metal is a vehicle combat franchise that debuted on the PSone and has been dormant since the PlayStation 3 era, the developer described Project Copper as a "third-person vehicular action combat game based on a classic PlayStation IP, developed by Firesprite."

They noted: "It featured third-person shooter mechanics combined with third-person vehicle combat, aiming to be the last player standing" (thanks, MP1st).

Sony reportedly shelved Twisted Metal during widespread layoffs announced in February 2024. The game "had not yet been greenlit" but was in development at UK-based Firesprite, which Sony confirmed was affected by the cuts.

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Twisted Metal was abandoned as Sony scaled back its live-service game ambitions after a major push to produce more such titles. Naughty Dog halted work on The Last of Us Online in December 2023, citing the need to focus all resources on post-launch content for years, which would have hindered its single-player game development.

While Arrowhead’s Helldivers 2 became a smash hit, selling 12 million copies in 12 weeks to become PlayStation Studios’ fastest-selling title ever, Sony’s live-service shooter Concord was a historic flop, taken offline after just weeks due to dismal player counts. Sony later terminated the game and closed its developer.

In January, Sony canceled two unannounced live-service games, including a God of War project at Bluepoint and another at Bend, the studio behind Days Gone.

Though a new Twisted Metal game seems unlikely in the near future, the Twisted Metal TV series starring Anthony Mackie will continue with Season 2 on Peacock. IGN gave Season 1 an 8/10, calling it: "A surprisingly enjoyable mix of humor, action, and depth, despite occasional joke overload."