Looks Like Sony Has Switched Developers For The Twisted Metal Reboot [Update]

Sorry Twisted Metal reboot, but your developer is in another studio.

According to sources from VGC, the beloved car-combat series that last had an instalment 10 years ago is no longer being developed by Lucid Games. Before this news, the game was reportedly in development by the UK-based studio in collaboration with Sony. However, VGC’s sources have implied that Lucid Games has ceased development with Sony instead deciding to “move the series revival to one of its first-party studios in Europe”.

Lucid Games is best known for Destruction AllStars, which received average reviews upon release. Further reports suggest that the flat reception of said game might be the reasoning as to why Sony has moved away from having Lucid develop the newest Twisted Metal title.

The Twisted Metal series was initially developed by American developer SingleTrac. Said studio launched the original game in 1995 and its sequel, Twisted Metal 2, in 1996. The reigns were then passed to 989 Studios due to contractual disputes with SingleTrac, and the third and fourth instalments released in 1998 and 1999 respectively. These latter titles were notably different to the previous two due mainly to the original engine used for the originals being owned by SingleTrac.

The next two games, Twisted Metal: Black and Twisted Metal: Head-On, notably went back to their roots, being developed largely by the original creative team albeit part of a new studio, Incognito Entertainment. That brings us to the most recent addition to the series in 2012, Twisted Metal. This one was developed by Eat Sleep Play, a studio founded by two of the original members of SingleTrac, David Jaffe and Scott Campbell.

So basically, despite very much staying within the same team, for the most part, the Twisted Metal series has been tossed around a fair bit over the years. With Sony deciding to bring the Twisted Metal reboot back into their studios, we can only hope for the best.

While we don’t know much about what’s to come for the Twisted Metal reboot, we do know that the unnamed first-party studio is currently hoping to launch coincidentcoincidently’s release of a Twisted Metal TV series coming in 2023.

Update 13/01/2021: According to a new report from VGC, PlayStation has passed on the development of the new Twisted Metal reboot game to their first-party studio Firesprite. Firesprite is known for the development of PlayStation’s The Playroom and several of their VR games, most notably being the co-developer of the upcoming PlayStation VR 2 exclusive Horizon Call of the Mountain. Maybe the next Twisted Metal will be a VR game? Wouldn’t that be stressful?