Avalanche Studios Group & Xbox Cease Active Development On Contraband

Back in 2021, Avalanche Studios Group announced its next title, Contraband, a co-op smuggler’s paradise set in the fictional world of 1970s Bayan. The game was set to be released for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox Game Pass, and PC. However, that is no longer going to be the case. Bloomberg is reporting that the game has been cancelled after four years of development. Avalanche Studios Group released an update on the game, confirming the report.

BREAKING: Xbox is canceling Contraband, announced in 2021 from Avalanche Studios (Just Cause), after four years of radio silence, sources tell Bloomberg News. This news arrives weeks after a mass layoff in which Xbox canceled several other big titles.

— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier.bsky.social) August 7, 2025 at 9:56 AM

“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.”

This comes following the job cuts at Xbox last month, which included the cancellation of the Perfect Dark reboot, the new MMP RPG project from Zenimax Online Studios, and Everwild.

Contraband director Omar Shakir called the open-world title the studio’s “most ambitious and spectacular game to date.”

“We’re taking everything that we’ve learned from 18 years of being at the forefront of creating beautiful, vast open game worlds filled with stunning vistas and incredible emergent gameplay moments,” Shakir said at the time of Contraband‘s initial reveal.

Since this is the latest Xbox related project to be cancelled, many may be wondering what other projects may follow suit. OD, the project between Xbox and Hideo Kojima is still in development, Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier reports.

OD, the collaboration between Xbox and Hideo Kojima, is still in development, a Microsoft spokesperson tells me.

— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier.bsky.social) August 7, 2025 at 10:07 AM