The abandonment of development on Perfect Dark is one of the most significant events of the year 2025. However, the project was very advanced, including in terms of dubbing the lines as revealed by Alix Wilton Regan.
If the year 2025 was marked by major releases and great video game surprises, it also experienced twists and turns that deeply shocked the video game industry. The most notable event of this year is the wave of layoffs announced by Microsoft at the beginning of July. Thousands of jobs were lost and many projects were canceled following this tidal wave, including the Perfect Dark reboot.
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Perfect Dark canceled by Microsoft and its studio forced to close permanently
The announcement of its cancellation saddened thousands of players yet impatient to be able to relive the adventures of Joanna Dark. But if the players did not expect such a decision, the people working directly or indirectly on the project learned of it in the same way. This is particularly the case ofAlix Wilton Regan, who lends her voice to Joanna.
A cancellation learned in the worst possible way despite several years of work on the project
Recently, the voice actress returned to this event and how she learned about it during an interview with The Gamer. She said she was taken by surprise because she learned the news at the last moment, at the same time as the development teams. The revelation shocked her even more as she had been working on the project for more than 2 years.
We were recording bits and pieces of scenes throughout 2023. We were also doing a lot of performance capture in 2024, and we were even recording more for 2025. As far as I knew, we were pretty far along. I had participated in the recording of entire chapters of this universe.
But even more than the cancellation of the game she had worked on as a voice actor, Alix Wilton Regan is devastated by the studio closing and everyone who lost their jobs. She confides that “ It was catastrophic. So many people have lost their jobs. An entire team was disbanded. An entire ecosystem of creativity and collaboration collapsed overnight. It was really difficult, very difficult for everyone. »
« What saved me when Perfect Dark was canceled was that I was already playing Lara »
For several weeks, the actress had to remain silent as The Initiative was in talks for Perfect Dark to continue to exist in some form. However, no agreement was reached and the project was permanently canceled.
If the news devastated Alix Wilton Regan, she found hope through another character and another cult license: Tomb Raider. Indeed, the voice actress lends her voice to Lara in the two new games presented during the Game Awards 2025.
She concluded by revealing that “ I played Joanna on one side, and Lara on the other, which was great and was probably one of the most creatively stimulating times of my life. I was relieved to be able to continue playing Lara, but I was also very afraid of losing her. I’m always afraid of losing her ».