Recently, players suddenly remembered Contraband again. The Xbox exclusive was announced several years ago, and last summer Microsoft announced its cancellation.
Contraband from Avalanche Studios was supposed to be a co-op action game. The game was planned for release on PC and Xbox Series X|S consoles. The project never made it to release, but at a certain stage, a working test build was created — shown by the author of the YouTube channel Luke JC.
The test world was discovered in the fishing simulator Call of the Wild: The Angler, released by Avalanche Studios in 2022. He managed to launch a Steam build dating back to February 2022:
As it turns out, Contraband didn't disappear without a trace. Its entire test world leaked online through Call of the Wild: The Angler — one of Avalanche's other games. Join me today as I show you many aspects of the game that were never revealed, including vehicles, world concepts, game systems, and clues described by insiders that no one else has ever seen.
Luke JC showed that Contraband could have included air and ground vehicles, each with its own characteristics and damage system. Test zones were found, such as "Multiplayer Test," as well as names like winter's palace, serpent cafe, and lorenzo's yard.
According to the test build, events would have taken place on an island in Southeast Asia. Perhaps the game could have featured full-fledged heists: a bar with a secret basement was found in the test world — it could have been used as an operational base for planning.
It is known that Avalanche Studios is currently developing a game-as-a-service, but details have not yet been disclosed.