Xbox Recreation Studios has reportedly canceled Contraband, the following sport from Simply Trigger developer Avalanche Studios, following 4 years of silence from each studios concerning the sport.
That is in accordance with Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, who reported the cancellation on Bluesky. On condition that we’ve not heard something about Contraband for 4 years, its cancellation is maybe unsurprising, nevertheless it’s a disgrace nonetheless.
In fact, we did not know that a lot about Contraband to start with. When it was introduced in 2021, Avalanche mentioned the sport, which was to be a “co-op smuggler’s paradise”, could be the studio’s “most formidable and spectacular sport thus far”, however past that, not a lot was revealed concerning the venture.
Avalanche did say that the sport would make the most of Simply Trigger’s Apex Engine, and so far as we knew, the sport could be an Xbox Collection X|S unique, though given Xbox’s current strikes in direction of platform agnosticism, that will not have been the case for lengthy.
Contraband’s cancellation comes after a large wave of Microsoft layoffs that noticed round 9,000 firm staff lose their jobs, in addition to high-profile sport and studio shutdowns beneath the Xbox model.
These included the cancellation of Uncommon’s Everwild, in addition to the shuttering of The Initiative’s reportedly troubled Excellent Darkish reboot, together with the closure of that studio. So far as we all know, Uncommon stays operational, though it does not have any energetic initiatives which have been introduced publicly.
In response to what a Microsoft spokesperson informed Schreier, regardless of these high-profile shutdowns, Hideo Kojima’s OD, which is able to function a collaboration with Xbox Recreation Studios, continues to be in growth (in the intervening time, no less than).
It is unclear what’s subsequent for Avalanche Studios after the cancellation of Contraband, however in the intervening time no less than, you will not be visiting the studio’s smuggler’s paradise anytime quickly. Keep tuned for extra on this and all different issues Xbox.
