Contraband, a planned co-op open-world game from Avalanche Studios under Xbox Game Studios, has halted active development amid ongoing layoffs at Microsoft. The game was briefly showcased at E3 2021, but since then, updates have been lacking. Avalanche Studios expressed gratitude for community support while delaying further announcements about the project. Recent workforce reductions include 7,000 job cuts announced in May and an additional 9,000 cuts later, affecting the gaming sector significantly, with several studios closing or ceasing projects, including The Initiative.
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.
Microsoft announced in May that it would cut 7,000 jobs, or about 3 percent of its global workforce. That news was followed by another cut of 9,000 positions later in the summer.
Gaming has been hit hard by these changes, with several studios and planned projects shuttering as Microsoft consolidates.
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.
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