Sunday's E3 events are starting off fast with the Xbox & Bethesda Game Showcase, with games including Starfield, Stalker 2, and Sea of Thieves. But the first big game announcement came from a surprising direction. The game's name is Contraband and it's not made by one of the teams at Xbox Game Studios. Instead, it's made by Avalanche Studios, the developer of Just Cause, Mad Max, and Rage 2. Despite being third-party, Contraband will be an Xbox console exclusive.
The Xbox & Bethesda Game Showcase announcement trailer for Contraband is short and sweet, leaving a lot to the imagination. What is confirmed, even directly stated to trailer viewers, is that Contraband is a cooperative multiplayer open-world game. The trailer stops short of saying anything else about Contraband, 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.
A deeper dive into the Contraband trailer 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 shows four players pushing 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 the Contraband trailer 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 a smuggling run may be only part of the Contraband'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 the Contraband trailer's Youtube description, there are some extra details. Contraband is 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 the rumored setting for Grand Theft Auto 6.
This Avalanche Studios game has been rumored for some time and has led to a lot of speculation about a possible Xbox 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.
Contraband is in development for PC and Xbox.