What's going on with Contraband? New game from the creators of Just Cause and Mad Max may be cancelled
In 2021, Avalanche studio - the author of Just Cause series and post-apocalyptic action Mad Max (2015) - in cooperation with Xbox Game Studios announced an ambitious co-operative game Contraband.
It was stated that it would be an open-world project set in a 1970s setting, and the main gameplay mechanics would be controlling a variety of vehicles to deliver contraband.
Since then, except for the colourful but abstract announcement trailer, the developers didn't reveal any details, for some time insiders assured that "Insider: Contraband action game from the creators of Just Cause and Rage 2 won't be released until the end of 2025 at the earliest" and it might be cancelled, but later this information was denied.
But now the mysterious game is again under the threat of cancellation.
Here's What We Know
Attentive gamers noticed that Contraband's announcement trailer has been removed from the Xbox YouTube channel. Since it happened simultaneously Microsoft has started a new wave of layoffs in Xbox divisions, which, for example, resulted in the cancellation of such games as the reboot of Perfect Dark and the Microsoft's big purge: ambitious MMORPG Blackbird from the creators of The Elder Scrolls Online has been cancelled, the public reasonably assumed that such a fate befell the new game from Avalanche.
Reputable journalist and Windows Central insider Jez Corden asked his sources about Microsoft's plans for Contraband and learned that it has not yet been decided whether to continue development of the game or to cancel it. But the hiding of the game's trailer on YouTube is not related to Microsoft and is due to the expiry of the music licence.
Source: Windows Central
