Microsoft says that it has stopped development on Contraband, the co-op action-adventure open-world game in development at Avalanche Studios Group — the studio behind the Just Cause game series. While not explicitly calling it a cancellation, the fate of Contraband sounds similar to recently scrapped, long-in-development projects like Rare’s Everwild and The Initiative’s Perfect Dark.
Contraband was first revealed at E3 2021. Announced with a pre-rendered trailer, Contraband was pitched as a “co-op smuggler’s paradise set in the fictional world of 1970s Bayan, brought to you by Avalanche Studios and Xbox Game Studios.” The game was said to be an Xbox console exclusive with a release planned for PC. Contraband did not have an announced release date, and little has been heard about it over the past four years.
In a statement on Avalanche’s website, the studio said, “Over the past several years, Avalanche Studios Group and Xbox Game Studios Publishing have collaborated on Contraband. Active development has now stopped while we evaluate the project’s future. We’re thankful for the excitement we’ve seen from the community since we announced and will give an update on what’s next as soon as we can.” Bloomberg was first to report the news of Contraband‘s development.
Microsoft slashed nearly 9,000 jobs in July as part of a new round of cuts at the company. Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer said in a note to employees at the time that the Xbox division was being impacted “to position Gaming for enduring success and allow us to focus on strategic growth areas, we will end or decrease work in certain areas of the business and follow Microsoft’s lead in removing layers of management to increase agility and effectiveness.”
