Contraband has been permabanned as development is stopped

Just days after we published our 2025 list of games that are Missing in Action, reports came through that Contraband was no longer in active development and that was then confirmed by Avalanche Studios, the developers of the project.

In our list we said this about the game:

The game is so MIA that the official Xbox YouTube channel no longer has the trailer listed, which is never a good sign, which could mean the ban in Contraband is taking itself a little to seriously.

Which was clearly a sign of things happening, because the game is now dead. Avalanche Studios released a brief statement on their website advising of the stoppage of work. This is the full statement:

Over the past several years, Avalanche Studios Group and Xbox Game Studios Publishing have collaborated on Contraband. 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.

Now that message does not state the game has been cancelled, just that development has stopped. Does this mean it will come back on its own in the near future, doubtful, but then again Avalanche Studios have managed to make a few games stick around far long than many thought they would.

It is also possible that another publisher might step in and taken over the role Xbox were doing, but again that is doubtful. If we had seen the game publicly and there were fans who wanted it, that would be a different beast, but right now, there is nothing beyond that first teaser trailer. So, for this one, we are calling time of death