Xbox has halted development on Contraband to "evaluate the project's future," with a Bloomberg report confirming the game is entirely canceled four years after its initial E3 announcement.
Bloomberg journalist Jason Schreier broke the news on Bluesky today, stating that "Xbox is canceling Contraband, announced in 2021 from Avalanche Studios (known for Just Cause), after four years of radio silence, sources tell Bloomberg News."
This was followed by an official confirmation from Avalanche on its website, which reads as follows:
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 it and will give an update on what's next as soon as we can.
Contraband was originally unveiled for Xbox and PC at E3 2021 with a teaser trailer. At that time, we knew it would be set in the 1970s smuggler's paradise of Bayan, but no gameplay footage was shown. Since then, there has been little visibility into the game or its development progress. However, we previously reported that in 2022, management and employees clashed over a controversial hire and a lack of follow-up communication. This dispute later inspired the studio to form an official union club and pressure the company toward signing a collective bargaining agreement.
Meanwhile, Xbox has been canceling projects at a rapid pace following mass layoffs last month that eliminated 9,100 jobs across Microsoft, including hundreds in gaming. In the aftermath, it was revealed that titles such as Everwild and Perfect Dark had also been canceled.
