It’s better to give up on the game announced four years ago because the studio announced development is on hold.

Stephen Totilo, editor of Game File, was the first to report on this as a rumor. The game was announced in 2021, and there has been no official news since then. Rumor had it that Avalanche Studios ran into difficulties, and the game—which was supposed to offer co-op—was originally planned for release in 2023 or 2024. In July, when Microsoft began laying off 9,000 employees, Totilo pointed out that the Contraband announcement trailer had been set to private on Xbox’s official YouTube channel. Even then, it was clear that, alongside Rare’s Everwild, ZeniMax Online’s canceled MMO, and The Initiative’s closed Perfect Dark reboot, this project was also headed for the bin…

Later, a statement published on Avalanche Studios’ official website confirmed that development on Contraband is on hold while the game’s future is re-evaluated: “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 announcing it, and we’ll provide an update on what’s next as soon as possible.”

Bloomberg also considers the game canceled, and Totilo believes the project is dead since Xbox has dropped Contraband. However, he notes that Avalanche is not ready to say so themselves. Contraband was planned as a huge project that would require a major partner’s support—Microsoft in this case. Avalanche would continue, but the IP is likely owned by Microsoft. PlatinumGames had a similar experience with Scalebound, which was canceled in early 2017.

Although it is not technically accurate to call Contraband canceled just yet, it’s probably safe to say the game will never see release.

Source: WCCFTech, Game File, Avalanche Studios, Bloomberg