David Jaffe, the lead designer of Twisted Metal, has confirmed the game will miss its projected October 4th, 2011, release date.

In addition to stating gamescom and PAX Prime will receive a new playable build for the PlayStation 3 exclusive, Jaffe unveiled on the PlayStation Blog that Twisted Metal will now release in early 2012. He said:

It sucks bad when games miss their announced launch dates. We’re gamers too and we know how annoying it is. It’s disappointing and frustrating and it really takes the wind out of your sails if you’re a fan that has been looking forward to playing a title for a long time. Thing is, you gotta trust me when I tell you that – with this extra time for tuning and polish – the game is going to be so much better than it already is. And if you played Twisted Metal and liked it at E3 or Comic-Con, or if you get to play it (and you enjoy it) at one of the August shows, just imagine how much more fun the final game will be with some extra time, polish, and love. With Twisted Metal we plan to ship a multiplayer classic. We plan to ship the best Twisted Metal ever made. We plan to convert a lot of folks who think vehicle combat is a relic best left to 90′s nostalgia. And we plan to explode the belief that the only relevant kind of shooter is a first person one. Most importantly, we plan on treating you – the kind folks who play our game (and pay our bills) – like the VIPs that you are. You only deserve our best and we appreciate your understanding as we take a little more time to guarantee that our best is what we deliver.

Twisted Metal is the longest running PlayStation franchise for Sony, and it's unfortunate that the next title in the franchise wasn't receiving as much hype and attention it maybe should have. Indeed, it's a smart move by Eat, Sleep, Play – the developer behind Twisted Metal – to delay the game seeing as it was releasing alongside countless other blockbuster titles.