Sunday’s E3 events are starting off fast with the Xbox & Bethesda Game Showcase, with games includingStarfield,Stalker 2, andSea of Thieves. But the first big game announcement came from a surprising direction. The game’s name isContrabandand it’s not made by one of the teams at Xbox Game Studios. Instead, it’s made byAvalanche Studios, the developer ofJust Cause,Mad Max, andRage 2. Despite being third-party,Contrabandwill be an Xbox console exclusive.
TheXbox & Bethesda Game Showcaseannouncement trailer forContrabandis short and sweet, leaving a lot to the imagination. What is confirmed, even directly stated to trailer viewers, is thatContrabandis a cooperative multiplayer open-world game. The trailer stops short of saying anything else aboutContraband, outside of showing a scene depicting what appears to be a successful mission to retrieve a case of contraband after a well-laid plan was formed.
RELATED:Canceled Avalanche Studios Game Was Set in Alternate History 1950s
A deeper dive into theContrabandtrailer does reveal a lot of interesting details, but not much in terms of confirmed gameplay mechanics. For example, of the two photographs shown, one saying “open world” and the other saying “co-op,” both heavily focus on vehicles. One photo showsfour playerspushing and towing a vehicle laden with contraband through a stretch of mud in the middle of the wilderness. The second shows a high-speed vehicle flying through the air, ramping over a river. The focus on driving is clearly very important.
Another important aspect of theContrabandtrailer deserving attention is the planning. A plan is shown, complete with a map covered in sketches, leading to a box of assumed contraband. Execution of asmuggling runmay be only part of theContraband’s scope. Planning out a mission may be just as important. A radio could also be a revelatory part of the trailer, perhaps implying a player guiding his team through audio. Still, that’s just a matter of speculation at this point.
In theContrabandtrailer’s Youtube description, there are some extra details.Contrabandis described as a “smuggler’s paradise,” so players will likely be trucking around plenty of contraband on their own. Additionally, the game is set in a fictional take on the 1970s in the country of Bayan, which looks like it could be based in South America. That’s also the part of therumored setting forGrand Theft Auto 6.
This Avalanche Studios game has been rumored for some time and has led to a lot of speculation about a possibleXbox Game Studios acquisition. That hasn’t been confirmed yet, and clearly won’t be confirmed today with the Xbox event now ended. However, there’s a lot of Contraband development left, so it wouldn’t be surprising for these rumors to continue to grow. Excitement about that possibility may depend on how great Contraband looks in future reveals.
Contrabandis in development for PC and Xbox.
MORE:E3 2021 - Schedule, Where To Watch, Everything Announced, & More
