Xbox may have just lost another game it had in development. Microsoft and Avalanche Studios (not the Hogwarts Legacy developer) announced in 2021 that they were collaborating for an Xbox exclusive cooperative game involving a smuggling experience. Dubbed Contraband, the title did not receive much information outside of that original reveal with a cinematic trailer. However, the latest round of Microsoft layoffs and project cancelations looks to have hit this project too.
Reports of Contraband"s development being halted, or outright cancelled, arrived earlier today from both Game File and Bloomberg"s Jason Schreier. Just a couple of hours later, an official announcement landed from the development studio.
"Over the past several years, Avalanche Studios Group and Xbox Game Studios Publishing have collaborated on Contraband," the statement published on the studio website reads. "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."
While it doesn"t look like the project has been outright cancelled, it looks like that may be in the cards if the heads at publishing and studio can"t find a way to resume development. It"s unclear at what stage of development the game is at either.
The Just Cause series developer was using its own Apex Engine for the development of this mystery co-op project too. "We built the engine to unlock the creativity of our developers and we’re excited to take full advantage of the unique capabilities of Xbox Series X|S," said game director Omar Shakir back in 2021.
Later in 2022, it was also revealed that this "co-op smuggling" title would include vehicular combat of some kind. Avalanche Studios also had a large round of layoffs in 2024, shutting down two of its locations and losing 50 staff.
If Contraband does end up being cancelled outright, it will join the three other Xbox games that were cancelled earlier this year: Perfect Dark, Everwild, and an MMORPG project from Zenimax Online.