New Twisted Metal Game Reportedly Scrapped Due to Layoffs

A new game in PlayStation's iconic Twisted Metal series has reportedly been scrapped following layoffs at the gaming giant. For multiple years now, reports have claimed that PlayStation was in the process of looking to bring back Twisted Metal. This revival in the gaming space was seemingly made in tandem with Peacock's live-action adaptation of Twisted Metal, which debuted on the streaming platform last year. Now, it sounds as though this TV series is going to remain the only thing tied to the franchise that will be coming about in the foreseeable future. 

According to Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier, Sony opted to end work on a new Twisted Metal game that has been in development at studio Firesprite in recent years. Firesprite is one of several PlayStation studios that were impacted by these new layoffs at Sony with others including Naughty Dog, Insomniac Games, and London Studio, which was shuttered entirely. This new Twisted Metal project was never formally revealed by PlayStation, but it is said that the game was more live-service in nature compared to previous installments. 

Long before its development was scrapped, this new Twisted Metal reboot was met with a number of additional struggles. Back in 2022, the game was originally in the works at Lucid Games, the studio behind Destruction AllStars. For one reason or another, Sony ended up removing Lucid from the Twisted Metal project and then passed it off to Firesprite, which Sony acquired in 2021. After having worked on this new Twisted Metal title for the past two years, Sony then opted to today end the game's development as a whole rather than continue further. 

Moving forward, it's hard to know what the future might hold for Twisted Metal. The last entry in the series that PlayStation released was 2012's Twisted Metal which came to PS3. Since that time, PlayStation has ported some of the older Twisted Metal games from PS1 to PS5 and PS4 to make them accessible on modern platforms. Beyond this, though, the only plans that are now known to be in the works with the Twisted Metal IP at large are tied to Season 2 of the Peacock series which is expected to arrive in 2025.