{"id":10415,"date":"2025-08-07T17:48:56","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T17:48:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2025\/08\/07\/xbox-stops-development-on-contraband-four-years-after-initial-e3-announcement\/"},"modified":"2025-08-07T17:48:56","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T17:48:56","slug":"xbox-stops-development-on-contraband-four-years-after-initial-e3-announcement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2025\/08\/07\/xbox-stops-development-on-contraband-four-years-after-initial-e3-announcement\/","title":{"rendered":"Xbox Stops Development on Contraband, Four Years After Initial E3 Announcement"},"content":{"rendered":"<section class=\"article-page\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/assets-prd.ignimgs.com\/2021\/06\/13\/contraband-1623604885375.png\" \/>\n<section data-transform=\"mobile-ad-break\"><\/section>\n<p>Xbox has stopped development of Contrabrand to &#8220;evaluate the project&#8217;s future,&#8221; with a Bloomberg report saying the game is canceled entirely four years after its initial E3 announcement.<\/p>\n<section data-transform=\"ignvideo\" data-slug=\"contraband-announcement-trailer\" data-loop=\"\"><\/section>\n<p>Bloomberg journalist Jason Schreier first <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/jasonschreier.bsky.social\/post\/3lvt7g4p7fs2k\">broke the news on Bluesky today<\/a>, saying that &#8220;Xbox is canceling Contraband, announced in 2021 from Avalanche Studios (Just Cause), after four years of radio silence, sources tell Bloomberg News.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>This was followed by an <a href=\"https:\/\/avalanchestudios.com\/stories\/contraband-update\">official confirmation from Avalanche on its website<\/a>, which reads as follows:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Over the past several years, Avalanche Studios Group and Xbox Game Studios Publishing have collaborated on Contraband. Active development has now stopped while we evaluate the project&#8217;s future. We&#8217;re thankful for the excitement we&#8217;ve seen fro mthe community since we announced and will give an update on what&#8217;s next as soon as we can.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Contraband was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ign.com\/articles\/contraband-announced-xbox\">originally announced<\/a> for Xbox and PC at E3 2021 with a teaser trailer. At the time, we knew it would be set in a 1970s smuggler&#8217;s paradise called Bayan, but we didn&#8217;t see any gameplay. Since then, we&#8217;ve seen nothing further of the game, nor heard any progress on its development. However, we did report that in 2022, management and employees <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ign.com\/articles\/just-cause-studio-employees-call-for-change-amid-year-long-battle-over-controversial-hire\">clashed<\/a> over a controversial hire and a lack of subsequent communication, a dispute that later inspired the studio to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ign.com\/articles\/over-100-developers-of-just-cause-contraband-at-avalanche-studios-have-unionized\">form an official union club<\/a> and pressure the company toward <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ign.com\/articles\/just-cause-developer-avalanche-commits-to-collective-bargaining-agreement-with-swedish-unions\">signing a collective bargaining agreement<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Xbox, meanwhile, has been canceling projects left and right amid a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ign.com\/articles\/microsoft-makes-significant-layoffs-across-gaming-division-xbox-boss-phil-spencer-confirms-in-memo-to-staff\">mass layoff last month<\/a> that saw 9,100 jobs eliminated Microsoft-wide, including hundreds in gaming. In the aftermath, we learned that games including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ign.com\/articles\/rares-everwild-reportedly-canceled-as-microsoft-layoffs-sweep-across-xbox\">Everwild<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ign.com\/articles\/perfect-dark-reboot-canceled-and-xbox-developer-the-initiative-closed-as-part-of-devastating-microsoft-layoffs\">Perfect Dark<\/a> had been canceled.<\/p>\n<section data-transform=\"divider\"><\/section>\n<p><em>Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/section>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Xbox has stopped development of Contrabrand to &#8220;evaluate the project&#8217;s future,&#8221; with a Bloomberg report saying the game is canceled entirely four years after its initial E3 announcement. Bloomberg journalist Jason Schreier first broke the news on Bluesky today, saying that &#8220;Xbox is canceling Contraband, announced in 2021 from Avalanche Studios (Just Cause), after four [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10416,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Xbox Stops Development on Contraband, Four Years After Initial E3 Announcement - Next Level News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Stay on top of the gaming world with Next Level News. Get breaking stories, honest reviews, and insider updates on your favorite games, studios, and platforms.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2025\/08\/07\/xbox-stops-development-on-contraband-four-years-after-initial-e3-announcement\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Xbox Stops Development on Contraband, Four Years After Initial E3 Announcement - Next Level News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Stay on top of the gaming world with Next Level News. Get breaking stories, honest reviews, and insider updates on your favorite games, studios, and platforms.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2025\/08\/07\/xbox-stops-development-on-contraband-four-years-after-initial-e3-announcement\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Next Level News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/people\/Next-Level-News\/61578318399201\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-08-07T17:48:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/contraband-1623604885375-pQJ0D9-1024x551.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"551\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"NextLevelNews\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"NextLevelNews\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/07\\\/xbox-stops-development-on-contraband-four-years-after-initial-e3-announcement\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/07\\\/xbox-stops-development-on-contraband-four-years-after-initial-e3-announcement\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"NextLevelNews\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/53ecc294de3006af5106cb2326fcb4b4\"},\"headline\":\"Xbox Stops Development on Contraband, Four Years After Initial E3 Announcement\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-07T17:48:56+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/07\\\/xbox-stops-development-on-contraband-four-years-after-initial-e3-announcement\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":313,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/07\\\/xbox-stops-development-on-contraband-four-years-after-initial-e3-announcement\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/contraband-1623604885375-pQJ0D9-scaled.png\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/07\\\/xbox-stops-development-on-contraband-four-years-after-initial-e3-announcement\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/07\\\/xbox-stops-development-on-contraband-four-years-after-initial-e3-announcement\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/07\\\/xbox-stops-development-on-contraband-four-years-after-initial-e3-announcement\\\/\",\"name\":\"Xbox Stops Development on Contraband, Four Years After Initial E3 Announcement - Next Level News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/07\\\/xbox-stops-development-on-contraband-four-years-after-initial-e3-announcement\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/07\\\/xbox-stops-development-on-contraband-four-years-after-initial-e3-announcement\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/contraband-1623604885375-pQJ0D9-scaled.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-07T17:48:56+00:00\",\"description\":\"Stay on top of the gaming world with Next Level News. Get breaking stories, honest reviews, and insider updates on your favorite games, studios, and platforms.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/07\\\/xbox-stops-development-on-contraband-four-years-after-initial-e3-announcement\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/07\\\/xbox-stops-development-on-contraband-four-years-after-initial-e3-announcement\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/07\\\/xbox-stops-development-on-contraband-four-years-after-initial-e3-announcement\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/contraband-1623604885375-pQJ0D9-scaled.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/contraband-1623604885375-pQJ0D9-scaled.png\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1377},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/07\\\/xbox-stops-development-on-contraband-four-years-after-initial-e3-announcement\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Xbox Stops Development on Contraband, Four Years After Initial E3 Announcement\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Next Level News\",\"description\":\"Your Ultimate Hub for Gaming News &amp; Updates \u2014 From fresh releases and in-depth reviews to behind-the-scenes insights, we\u2019ve got everything you need to level up your game.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Next Level News\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/cropped-nxtlevelNEW.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/cropped-nxtlevelNEW.png\",\"width\":130,\"height\":45,\"caption\":\"Next Level News\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/people\\\/Next-Level-News\\\/61578318399201\\\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/53ecc294de3006af5106cb2326fcb4b4\",\"name\":\"NextLevelNews\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4ae4289b9f2bae18cc605cef3df1bf53adeb1fbefa97e0f8711324c5c750b4f1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4ae4289b9f2bae18cc605cef3df1bf53adeb1fbefa97e0f8711324c5c750b4f1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4ae4289b9f2bae18cc605cef3df1bf53adeb1fbefa97e0f8711324c5c750b4f1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"NextLevelNews\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/worldclassservers.net\\\/blog\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/admin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Xbox Stops Development on Contraband, Four Years After Initial E3 Announcement - Next Level News","description":"Stay on top of the gaming world with Next Level News. Get breaking stories, honest reviews, and insider updates on your favorite games, studios, and platforms.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2025\/08\/07\/xbox-stops-development-on-contraband-four-years-after-initial-e3-announcement\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Xbox Stops Development on Contraband, Four Years After Initial E3 Announcement - Next Level News","og_description":"Stay on top of the gaming world with Next Level News. Get breaking stories, honest reviews, and insider updates on your favorite games, studios, and platforms.","og_url":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2025\/08\/07\/xbox-stops-development-on-contraband-four-years-after-initial-e3-announcement\/","og_site_name":"Next Level News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/people\/Next-Level-News\/61578318399201\/","article_published_time":"2025-08-07T17:48:56+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":551,"url":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/contraband-1623604885375-pQJ0D9-1024x551.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"NextLevelNews","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"NextLevelNews","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2025\/08\/07\/xbox-stops-development-on-contraband-four-years-after-initial-e3-announcement\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2025\/08\/07\/xbox-stops-development-on-contraband-four-years-after-initial-e3-announcement\/"},"author":{"name":"NextLevelNews","@id":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/53ecc294de3006af5106cb2326fcb4b4"},"headline":"Xbox Stops Development on Contraband, Four Years After Initial E3 Announcement","datePublished":"2025-08-07T17:48:56+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2025\/08\/07\/xbox-stops-development-on-contraband-four-years-after-initial-e3-announcement\/"},"wordCount":313,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2025\/08\/07\/xbox-stops-development-on-contraband-four-years-after-initial-e3-announcement\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/contraband-1623604885375-pQJ0D9-scaled.png","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2025\/08\/07\/xbox-stops-development-on-contraband-four-years-after-initial-e3-announcement\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2025\/08\/07\/xbox-stops-development-on-contraband-four-years-after-initial-e3-announcement\/","url":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2025\/08\/07\/xbox-stops-development-on-contraband-four-years-after-initial-e3-announcement\/","name":"Xbox Stops Development on Contraband, Four Years After Initial E3 Announcement - Next Level News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2025\/08\/07\/xbox-stops-development-on-contraband-four-years-after-initial-e3-announcement\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2025\/08\/07\/xbox-stops-development-on-contraband-four-years-after-initial-e3-announcement\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/contraband-1623604885375-pQJ0D9-scaled.png","datePublished":"2025-08-07T17:48:56+00:00","description":"Stay on top of the gaming world with Next Level News. Get breaking stories, honest reviews, and insider updates on your favorite games, studios, and platforms.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2025\/08\/07\/xbox-stops-development-on-contraband-four-years-after-initial-e3-announcement\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2025\/08\/07\/xbox-stops-development-on-contraband-four-years-after-initial-e3-announcement\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2025\/08\/07\/xbox-stops-development-on-contraband-four-years-after-initial-e3-announcement\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/contraband-1623604885375-pQJ0D9-scaled.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/contraband-1623604885375-pQJ0D9-scaled.png","width":2560,"height":1377},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2025\/08\/07\/xbox-stops-development-on-contraband-four-years-after-initial-e3-announcement\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Xbox Stops Development on Contraband, Four Years After Initial E3 Announcement"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/","name":"Next Level News","description":"Your Ultimate Hub for Gaming News &amp; Updates \u2014 From fresh releases and in-depth reviews to behind-the-scenes insights, we\u2019ve got everything you need to level up your game.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/#organization","name":"Next Level News","url":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/cropped-nxtlevelNEW.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/cropped-nxtlevelNEW.png","width":130,"height":45,"caption":"Next Level News"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/people\/Next-Level-News\/61578318399201\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/53ecc294de3006af5106cb2326fcb4b4","name":"NextLevelNews","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4ae4289b9f2bae18cc605cef3df1bf53adeb1fbefa97e0f8711324c5c750b4f1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4ae4289b9f2bae18cc605cef3df1bf53adeb1fbefa97e0f8711324c5c750b4f1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4ae4289b9f2bae18cc605cef3df1bf53adeb1fbefa97e0f8711324c5c750b4f1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"NextLevelNews"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/worldclassservers.net\/blog"],"url":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/contraband-1623604885375-pQJ0D9-scaled.png","wpmagazine_modules_lite_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":["https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/contraband-1623604885375-pQJ0D9-150x150.png",150,150,true],"cvmm-medium":["https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/contraband-1623604885375-pQJ0D9-300x300.png",300,300,true],"cvmm-medium-plus":["https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/contraband-1623604885375-pQJ0D9-305x207.png",305,207,true],"cvmm-portrait":["https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/contraband-1623604885375-pQJ0D9-400x600.png",400,600,true],"cvmm-medium-square":["https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/contraband-1623604885375-pQJ0D9-600x600.png",600,600,true],"cvmm-large":["https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/contraband-1623604885375-pQJ0D9-1024x1024.png",1024,1024,true],"cvmm-small":["https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/contraband-1623604885375-pQJ0D9-130x95.png",130,95,true],"full":["https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/contraband-1623604885375-pQJ0D9-scaled.png",2560,1377,false]},"categories_names":{"1":{"name":"Uncategorized","link":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/category\/uncategorized\/"}},"tags_names":[],"comments_number":"0","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10415\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}