Xbox cancels a game it has not shown off in over four years

Xbox has canceled its plans to publish Contraband, a co-op game that was in development at Just Cause and Rage 2 developer Avalanche Studios for Xbox Series X.

Xbox Game Studios had not discussed the game since its reveal in 2021. The news of its cancellation comes over a tumultuous July for Xbox. Microsoft’s layoffs heavily impacted Xbox, resulting in the cancellation of other previously announced games, like Perfect Dark and Everwild.

Avalanche confirmed active development on Contraband has stopped

Xbox Game Studios is no longer involved

We first learned about the cancellation of Contraband from Bloomberg and Game File. Avalanche Studios Group released the following statement on its website shortly thereafter:

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 and will give an update on what’s next as soon as we can.

Android Police reached out to Microsoft for comment, and will update this article when we get a response.

Contraband was first announced by Avalanche Studios and Xbox Game Studios at an Xbox Games Showcase in 2021. An Xbox Wire post from shortly after its announcement teased that it would be a co-op game built using the Just Cause games’ Apex Engine.

The game was set in a fictional country called Bayan, and players would’ve taken control of smugglers. An open world and emergent gameplay moments were referenced, but its reveal trailer was purely cinematic.

After that initial reveal, we never really heard about the game again. It was neither mentioned at all in the past four Xbox Game Showcases nor playable at any public or behind-closed-doors press events.

That lack of updates on the project left its fate in question when Microsoft laid off so many Xbox employees last month. Game File’s reporting suggests that Xbox Game Studios Publishing was hit particularly hard by the layoffs, with several projects canceled and General Manager Peter Wyse leaving the company.

The reveal trailer for Contraband was also delisted from the official Xbox YouTube channel around that time, leading to speculation about the game’s cancellation. That concern was proven to be warranted today.

Avalanche’s own comment on the matter suggests that Contraband could potentially have a future independent of Xbox Game Studios, but that has not been determined as of yet. Regardless of what ends up happening, it will no longer be the Xbox-published, Xbox Series X exclusive, and Game Pass catalog-enhancing release it was once touted as.