Xbox Stops Development on Contraband, Four Years After Initial E3 Announcement

Xbox has stopped improvement of Contrabrand to "evaluate the project's future," with a Bloomberg study saying the crippled is canceled wholly 4 years aft its archetypal E3 announcement.

Bloomberg writer Jason Schreier archetypal broke the quality connected Bluesky today, saying that "Xbox is canceling Contraband, announced successful 2021 from Avalanche Studios (Just Cause), aft 4 years of vigor silence, sources archer Bloomberg News."

This was followed by an authoritative confirmation from Avalanche connected its website, which reads arsenic follows:

Over the past respective years, Avalanche Studios Group and Xbox Game Studios Publishing person collaborated connected Contraband. Active improvement has present stopped portion we measure the project's future. We're thankful for the excitement we've seen fro mthe assemblage since we announced and volition springiness an update connected what's adjacent arsenic soon arsenic we can.

Contraband was primitively announced for Xbox and PC astatine E3 2021 with a teaser trailer. At the time, we knew it would beryllium acceptable successful a 1970s smuggler's paradise called Bayan, but we didn't spot immoderate gameplay. Since then, we've seen thing further of the game, nor heard immoderate advancement connected its development. However, we did study that successful 2022, absorption and employees clashed implicit a arguable prosecute and a deficiency of consequent communication, a quality that aboriginal inspired the workplace to signifier an authoritative national nine and unit the institution toward signing a corporate bargaining agreement.

Xbox, meanwhile, has been canceling projects near and close amid a wide layoff past period that saw 9,100 jobs eliminated Microsoft-wide, including hundreds successful gaming. In the aftermath, we learned that games including Everwild and Perfect Dark had been canceled.

Rebekah Valentine is simply a elder newsman for IGN. You tin find her posting connected BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a communicative tip? Send it to [email protected].