After years of speculation, sporadic updates, and long stretches of silence, Avalanche Studios has confirmed that work on Contraband, its open-world co-op project for Xbox and PC, has come to a halt. The announcement came quietly on August 7, 2025, in a brief statement that left more questions than answers.

“Active development has now stopped while we evaluate the project’s future,” the studio said. That’s it no farewell message, no roadmap for what comes next, just a handful of words that will likely be dissected by fans for weeks. Officially, the game hasn’t been labeled “cancelled,” but multiple industry reporters, including Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, have described it as effectively shelved.

From Cinematic Tease to Long Silence

Contraband first appeared during Xbox’s 2021 E3 showcase, accompanied by a stylized cinematic trailer hinting at a dusty, retro-inspired world of smuggling and high-risk heists. At the time, the reveal was enough to spark excitement. Avalanche, best known for the Just Cause series, seemed like the perfect match for the game’s premise big maps, big stunts, and chaotic fun with friends.

But after that first tease, communication dried up. Reports trickled out over the years about internal changes, staff departures, and shifting priorities. By mid-2024, murmurs of trouble had grown louder, though the studio insisted the game was still on track. Earlier this year, new job listings even suggested Avalanche was gearing up for live-service features, giving fans a brief shot of optimism.

A Sudden Stop

That optimism didn’t last. Now, four years after its reveal, the curtain has effectively fallen. Industry sources point to a mix of creative direction changes, prolonged development struggles, and shifting Xbox priorities as likely causes for the halt. Microsoft, which was set to publish the game as a day-one Xbox Game Pass title, hasn’t issued its own public statement yet.

For those who had been following Contraband since the start, the news feels anticlimactic. This wasn’t the dramatic “cancelled in a blaze of headlines” moment some might have expected it was more like the slow fading of a signal until nothing remained but static.

What’s Next for Avalanche

Avalanche Studios hasn’t said what it will focus on next, but the company has multiple teams and ongoing projects, including rumoured updates to its Just Cause franchise. Whether any of Contraband’s concepts survive in another form remains to be seen.

For now, the game joins the growing list of Xbox projects that never made it to market despite years of development. In an era where AAA games take longer and cost more to produce, the risk of seeing a promising idea vanish before release is higher than ever and Contraband is the latest reminder of that reality.