Contraband from Xbox & Avalanche Studios revealed at Xbox/Bethesda E3 2021 showcase

Published , by Ozzie Mejia

Sunday's Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase continued with a fresh look at the latest from Avalanche Studios. The sounds of Steely Dan played over the opening trailer, as players were taken through what looks to be a drug lord's leisurely lair. It looks to be a co-op open world effort called Contraband.

"Contraband is a co-op smuggler's paradise set in the fictional world of 1970s Bayan, and our most ambitious and spectacular game to date," reads the announcement on Xbox Wire. "We're taking everything that we've learned from 18 years of being at the forefront of creating beautiful, vast open game worlds filled with stunning vistas and incredible emergent gameplay moments."

Avalanche Studios cites in the Xbox Wire story that it's had Contraband in the works for the past three years. The studio is certainly no stranger to this type of concept, having four Just Cause games on their resume. They're also fairly familiar with some of Xbox's partners, as they most recently worked on Rage 2 alongside Bethesda. Like the Just Cause games, Contraband will be built on the Apex Engine, which the team notes will take advantage of the Xbox Series X's technological capabilities.

There's no release window for Contraband just yet, but it's among the games that we'll be watching for future updates. We have a lot coming from E3 2021, so stay tuned to Shacknews for the latest updates.