A previously unannounced Twisted Metal game has reportedly been canceled amid the ongoing layoffs at PlayStation. Liverpool-based developer Firesprite was set to be behind Twisted Metal's return, with rumors it would have been a live-service game.

The Twisted Metal series has been on ice for over a decade now. It began with the PlayStation original back in 1995, and the most recent title, simply called Twisted Metal, was released as a PlayStation 3 exclusive back in 2012. Gamers would be forgiven for thinking it was gone for good. However, the recent Peacock television series of the same name starring Anthony Mackie and Stephanie Beatriz may have revived some public interest in the franchise, leading to early plans for a brand-new video game.

The report of the unannounced Twisted Metal's cancelation comes from Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier, who confirmed that it comes as a result of the mass layoffs at PlayStation today. The game was intended to be a live-service series by Firesprite, the Sony developer founded from the ashes of Studio Liverpool. As part of the layoffs, Firesprite has been noted as one of the teams hit hardest, so sadly, the cancelation seems like a natural consequence of that. Previously, Firesprite had co-developed Horizon Call of the Mountain with Guerrilla Games before seemingly moving on to work on Twisted Metal.

NEW: As part of today's mass layoff, Sony has canceled a Twisted Metal live-service game that was in development at UK-based studio Firesprite, Bloomberg has learned.

Firesprite will also lay off an unspecified number of people. https://t.co/pvCDsS7yxe

— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) February 27, 2024

Just after his initial report, Schreier did go on to quash some rumors that had popped up in the wake of the Twisted Metal news. Some speculation emerged that the title was close to completion upon its cancelation, but Schreier confirmed that the game was in the very early stages of development, and hadn't actually been greenlit yet. This means that even without the layoffs, there's a chance that the title may never have seen the light of day regardless. The previous title in the series was one of the best PS3 vehicle-based games, and it's still a massive shame to hear that the work done so far is being canned.

Twisted Metal has become the latest casualty as part of the widespread layoffs happening across the industry at the moment. Just last month, Blizzard canceled its unannounced survival game, despite spending over a half a decade developing the game. It's a sad state of affairs, with plenty of great work being canned that will never see the light of day, while thousands industry-wide find themselves in an uncertain employment situation that seems to have no end in sight.

Posted: Mar 03, 2024 9:29 pm
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Source: https://gamerant.com/new-twisted-metal-game-canceled-why/