The upheaval continues for gaming at Microsoft. The latest victim appears to be Contraband, a planned release from Avalanche Studios with Xbox Game Studios as publisher. The co-op open-world game from the studio behind the entertaining Just Cause series was teased in a brief, mostly atmospheric trailer at E3 2021. But very little had been heard since about the project, and it seems the axe is currently hanging pretty precariously above Contraband.
“Active development has now stopped while we evaluate the project’s future,” Avalanche said in a on its website. “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.”
Microsoft announced in May that it would , or about 3 percent of its global workforce. That news was followed by another cut of later in the summer. Gaming has been hit hard by these changes, with several studios and planned projects shuttering as Microsoft consolidates. Here’s the rundown of other projects that have been reported to have ended so far under Microsoft’s auspices:
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reboot from The Initiative
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from Blizzard Entertainment
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from Romero Games
Several of the aforementioned studios, and many others under the Xbox umbrella, have also been hit by the layoffs. Some, like The Initiative, have been completely shut down.
