Avalanche closes Liverpool Studio after Contraband cancellation
- Thread starter Topher
- Start date
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Punished Miku
Gaslighter Pro: 16.7 Fireflops
They got plenty of time to make something. I don't blame them.
Mister Wolf
Member
What were they doing all this time? Is this a another example of a contractor getting with Microsoft and feeling like they can drag their heels during development and bleed Microsoft dry.
ChorizoPicozo
Member
Wait wat? Did we know it was canceled or this is brand new information?.
Geoff should make a GOTY award for every game canceled after it's announcement. Green rats will be happy, Xbox will win every year for the last 10 years.
Geoff should make a GOTY award for every game canceled after it's announcement. Green rats will be happy, Xbox will win every year for the last 10 years.
ChorizoPicozo
Member
MS/Xbox mismanagement. Booty is worst than any DEI hire. The dude is just that incompetent
Topher
Identifies as young
Not sure if it was ever officially announced, but....
Edit:
yeah, it was. well....doesn't say "cancelled" but I think the writing was on the wall
Xbox Stops Development on Contraband, Four Years After Initial E3 Announcement - IGN
Xbox has stopped development of Contrabrand to "evaluate the project's future," with a Bloomberg report saying the game is canceled entirely four years after its initial E3 announcement.
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Punished Miku
Gaslighter Pro: 16.7 Fireflops
They didn't even get to the stage they could get a trailer ready to show us anything.
Mister Wolf
Member
How does a developer that knows how to make videogames all of the sudden doesnt know how to make a videogame in a timely fashion?
Miyazaki’s Slave
Gold Member
I fully expected Fabel dev to be shifted over to obsidian by now.
At least they can get titles released. How they perform once released is another topic, but at least they GET released.
Maybe Bethesda can even help once they get the new version of their wrist watch released.
At least they can get titles released. How they perform once released is another topic, but at least they GET released.
Maybe Bethesda can even help once they get the new version of their wrist watch released.
CuteFaceJay
Member
This is sad stuff, Gonna miss the old Just Cause guys.
DeepEnigma
Gold Member
Pasta la Vista
Member
Man I really like that Mad Max game Avalanche did, I also liked Rage 2.
mckmas8808
Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
I'm glad more people are starting to say this.
Angry_Megalodon
Member
Replacing good devs with bad devs. And bad management, to start with.
Pasta la Vista
Member
Ok wait, I don't remember MS buying Avalanche... weren't they owned by WB?
Bernkastel
Ask me about my fanboy energy!
This is happening to everything Microsoft touches. RIP feelplus.
MrTroubleMaker
Member
Different studios but similar name.
SantaC
Member
Founder recently said that the original JC developers are not there anymore.
Kacho
Gold Member
Vaporware online co-op game.
In April 2024 it was announced that the developers had successfully unionized, with Halldórsdóttir open to work along Unionen to implement new frameworks. In June 2024, Avalanche closed its offices in Montreal and New York, laying off 50 employees.
In September 2025, Avalanche announced they intend to close the Liverpool studio, and the removal of certain roles in other offices.
DeepEnigma
Gold Member
Good job, clowns. Now you have no job.Vaporware online co-op game.
In April 2024 it was announced that the developers had successfully unionized, with Halldórsdóttir open to work along Unionen to implement new frameworks. In June 2024, Avalanche closed its offices in Montreal and New York, laying off 50 employees.
In September 2025, Avalanche announced they intend to close the Liverpool studio, and the removal of certain roles in other offices.
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DonkeyPunchJr
World’s Biggest Weeb
That's actually a solid business plan. Convince Microsoft you have some killer game in development then drag it out as long as you can until MS shuts it down. "Keep a game in development in perpetuity while conning MS out of their money" is practically an industry in itself nowadays.
Somehow this happened to practically every western studio this generation. It's insane that 5+ years of development is the norm.
Gamer_By_Proxy
About to beat off
I'm gonna be pissed if this MS Contraband BS just killed off the Just Cause franchise. It's one of my favorite "just go have fun" game franchises.
''it's insane''
GAF will continue to insist on the level of cutting-edge technology, graphics and massive scope that has lead to AAA games having these dev times.
They're not making these games slowly on purpose, you know. They're trying to deliver the world's most complicated creative products (games) at the standards that a lot of people (especially here) demand quite intensely.
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Mister Wolf
Member
It happens in all industries. It especially happens in contract work on the construction site. "Hide & Seek for a $1000 a week".
crackajack
Member
When random new devs can make Kena or Stray or one of those soulslikes, some even still on last gen as well and looking good enough for most people, every established studio should be able to meet "crazy" standards.
Not according to an actual Avalanche employee
Avalanche Studios NYC Retrospective – An Ambitious Company Ruined by Bad Development Practices
I’ve wanted to write about this since the studio closed a year ago. Now that Contraband is also canceled I think it’s time, especially since Contraband was one of the big reasons why I …
probablydance.com
Actually this is one of the few cases where Booty made the right call
Lmao, not only are you kinda clueless about who gets the blame for this, but expressing joy that Chorizo is 'starting' to shit on Xbox?
You're just underlining my point for me. But. look, it's fine - I know that a lot of you have nothing but absolute contempt for the people who make the games you play.
Bernkastel
Ask me about my fanboy energy!
Not according to an actual Avalanche employee
Avalanche Studios NYC Retrospective – An Ambitious Company Ruined by Bad Development Practices
I’ve wanted to write about this since the studio closed a year ago. Now that Contraband is also canceled I think it’s time, especially since Contraband was one of the big reasons why I …
Actually this is one of the few cases where Booty made the right call
Lmao, not only are you kinda clueless about who gets the blame for this, but expressing joy that Chorizo is 'starting' to shit on Xbox?
Microsoft's damage control cell is already here.
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Oh yeah. Anybody and I mean *anybody* who even expresses a view that even slightly diverges from yours is actually secretly being paid to disagree with you online.
That's just how the world works. Nobody actually thinks differently to you, other opinions are psy-ops.
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Kacho
Gold Member
Not too long ago he was a hardcore Xbro
KaiserBecks
Member
This makes me sad. In 2011, Avalanche made a twin stick shooter called "Renegade Ops" that has been kinda forgotten. It wasn't anything real special, but a fun little Arcade game. When I saw the announcement for Contraband, I hoped that the game would build on that.
crackajack
Member
I love good devs. Sadly a lot of the current devs (and management decisions) are just not good and the results are clearly (not) showing it. Always was that way though. Just that mediocre games had more chance in earlier years under the AA label and for Indies some time in rather sloppy Xbox Live Arcade games, while now everything (except crap like Minecraft Roblox and other eyecancer stuff) has to be top notch to even be considered. It is just harder competition and some will not stay afloat. It is a billion dollar market, why should I be sad or worry about teams that clearly can't even finish something. The better individuals among them probably will find a job anyway, and got probably paid not bad at all in those basically unproductive years.
Punished Miku
Gaslighter Pro: 16.7 Fireflops
DonkeyPunchJr
World’s Biggest Weeb
Fucking GAF. Will you guys please stop making all these unreasonable demands? The only thing Microsoft is guilty of is trying too hard to please us.
Grildon Tundy
Member
Same. Plus Just Cause 3 (but not 4).
One of those bombastic CGI ones MS creates for all their games like State of Decay 3?
coffinbirth
Member
Yup.
Obsidian put out FIVE games in this time frame, with probably a few more mid-development. I know that's not exactly apples to apples, but c'mon.
I feel the same way about Perfect Dark.
Shit or get off the pot.
No, it was relatively basic compared to those. Just moving around a CG environment and settling on an object displaying the title.
Edit-
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Radical_3d
Member
I find funny and yet depressing seeing some people here thinking that unionising is what killed the studio. I thought that everyone knew that unions are common in Europe because our laws doesn't (always) align with the mob.
I can see the damage creation crew is already hard at work.
Reading can't be that hard
Bernkastel
Ask me about my fanboy energy!
Cyberpunkd
Member
Ok, but that means a number of internal milestones must have been missed - you need 4 years of missing them to pull the plug on the project?
phant0m
Member
Forza Horizon, the only consistently good IP from Xbox for the last decade.
Which the next entry (FH6) has taken 2.5x as long to come out as its predecessors because that studio is making Fable.