Alix Wilton Regan was cast as Joanna Dark in Microsoft’s Perfect Dark reboot. She just revealed that The Initiative worked for years on Perfect Dark before Microsoft pulled the plug on this project.
In an interview with TheGamer, Wilton Regan described recording substantial content across three years. The team started with “bits and bobs” throughout 2023. They moved to extensive performance capture sessions in 2024. Recording continued into 2025.
“To my knowledge, we were pretty far along,” she said. “I’d done entire chapters of this universe.”
Wilton Regan emphasized she doesn’t know the full development status. Actors see narrative progress without necessarily understanding gameplay implementation. But from her perspective, the project had hit multiple milestones and the client seemed happy with deliverables.
She found out about the defunding the same way everyone else did. “I was as shocked, surprised, and devastated as everyone else was when the funding was pulled and the studio was closed,” she said. “Blindsided” was how she described the experience.
An ecosystem gone overnight
The human cost weighs on her. “So many people lost their jobs,” she said. “An entire workforce was disbanded.” She described it as losing “an ecosystem of creativity and collaboration” overnight.
This marked a first in her 16-year game industry career. The sudden shutdown has made her anxious about the stability of game development work going forward. One saving grace: she’d been working as Lara Croft in a Tomb Raider project for about a year. That role helped cushion the professional blow.
The Perfect Dark reboot was announced in 2020 as a major Xbox first-party title. Microsoft formed The Initiative specifically to develop prestige AAA games. Crystal Dynamics later joined to support development.
Voice recording and performance capture often happen while levels remain unfinished and gameplay systems are still being built. “Entire chapters” of recorded dialogue doesn’t necessarily mean the game was near completion. But it does confirm significant narrative production had been completed before the plug was pulled.
