After shelving Uncommon’s Everwild, The Initiative’s Good Darkish and Zenimax’s Mission Blackbird, Microsoft has seemingly pulled the plug on Contraband, Avalanche Studios’ co-op action-adventure.
On its web site, the developer formally confirmed that “energetic growth has now stopped whereas we consider the challenge’s future” and that it “will give an replace on what’s subsequent as quickly as we are able to.” Its reveal trailer has additionally been privated.
Contraband was first introduced in 2021 as an open-world co-op title set in Nineteen Seventies Bayan, a fictional smuggler’s paradise, and had over 150 builders on it. It hasn’t acquired any information, updates and even gameplay since, and growth troubles have been reported final yr. Avalanche would go on to chop 50 jobs and shut down two studios shortly after.
This shift arrives within the wake of mass layoffs, which severely impacted Microsoft’s Gaming division. The Initiative shut down whereas Undead Labs, Flip 10 Studios, and plenty of extra suffered cuts.
Amid all that is Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella revealing plans to increase much more into AI. The corporate shaped a strategic partnership with OpenAI earlier this yr, however has been investing billions into the corporate since 2019. Keep tuned for updates and different developments on Contraband’s standing within the meantime.