Avalanche stops development on Xbox exclusive Contraband four years after its announcement

Avalanche Studios has confirmed that active development has stopped on Contraband, its Xbox-exclusive multiplayer title that was first announced back in 2021.

The details:

• Originally reported by Game File and later confirmed by Avalanche, Contraband, the studio’s open-world co-op game, has stopped active development and has likely been cancelled. "Over the past several years, Avalanche Studios and Xbox Game Studios Publishing have collaborated on Contraband. Active development has now stopped while we evaluate the project's future,” the studio said in a statement. "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 first announced in 2021 at E3 and was set to be an Xbox-published PC and console exclusive that followed smugglers in a fictional country during the 1970s. Nothing had been revealed about the game since, with Avalanche’s last release, Rage 2, arriving in 2019.
• It’s unconfirmed what caused Microsoft and Avalanche to pull the plug on the project, but it’s possibly related to recent cuts across Xbox in June that saw several projects canceled. Microsoft confirmed that it had scrapped its Perfect Dark reboot and shuttered developer The Initiative, with Rare’s Everwilds also being canned.

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