Lucid Games is reportedly no longer working on Twisted Metal reboot

As reported by VGC, their sources tell them that Sony is still working on a reboot of the vehicular combat series. The only difference is that Sony is handing the development over to a first-party studio located in Europe.

At the moment, Sony nor Lucid Games have commented on VGC's report. VGC explains that its sources speculate Sony's decision is based on the public's mixed reception of Destruction AllStars. The PS5 exclusive game didn't make much noise when it was launched last year and practically has a non-existence player base. Which studio is now working on the Twisted Metal reboot? Housemarque's titles before Returnal gives them a good shot at nailing the look and feel of a proper Twisted Metal game.

It's been speculated that Sony tends to "audition" studios before acquiring them. For example, Sony gave Housemarque a chance to release a PS5-exclusive title in Returnal before acquiring the Europe-based studio following the game's success. This is a pattern that Sony has followed for years as well. Because of this, many believed that this was Lucid's chance.

Having said that, VGC's report didn't specify which of Sony's six first-party studios in Europe is now working on Twisted Metal.

In an ideal world, someone like Guerilla Games could probably handle such a project, but the studio is busy working on Horizon Forbidden West, among others. We can also rule out Firesprite since it's working closely with Guerilla on a PSVR 2 game. Meanwhile, others have mostly been doing ports and VR games. Media Molecule could do it, but Twisted Metal just doesn't feel like it fits their forte, which leaves us with Housemarque.

Housemarque as the lead developer of a Twisted Metal game makes sense based on their previous work on Returnal and their older titles, which focused on co-op PvE action in a wide arena.

Of course, this is all just speculation at this point. Until Sony confirms anything, you should take everything that you just read with a grain of salt. But, if Sony did give Housemarque the reigns to Twisted Metal, then fans are in for quite the treat. One can only imagine just how beautiful a PS5-exclusive Twisted Metal would look with Returnal's bullet hell combat.