We hardly knew ye.
Xbox Game Studios and Avalanche Studios have stopped development of Contraband, an open-world, co-op shooter announced back in 2021.
“Over the past several years, Avalanche Studios Group and Xbox Game Studios Publishing have collaborating on Contraband,” reads an update from Avalanche. “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.”
Contraband was announced back at E3 2021 — the final E3 — and was then described as “a co-op smuggler’s paradise set in the fictional world of 1970s Bayan”. The title was also confirmed to be a day one Xbox Game Pass release when launched.
Not much of the title was actually shown off at the time, and that video has since been made private on YouTube. The one you can see above is courtesy of IGN.
We’ll report back as more of Contraband‘s fate is known. It’s as yet unclear if this move is as a result of thousands of layoffs and several game cancellations at Microsoft.
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