Microsoft layoffs: Perfect Dark VA says she recorded “entire chapters” before Xbox canceled reboot
New information has come to light about the canceled reboot of the classic spy game Perfect Dark, stating that the game had met significant development milestones, with entire chapters of motion capture recorded before Microsoft shelved the project.
Joanna Dark’s voice was lent by Alix Wilton-Regan, who recently spoke in an interview with TheGamer and revealed that Perfect Dark Reboot’s development had been in the works for many years. Early recording sessions began in 2023, steadily increased in 2024, and continued until the game’s cancellation.
Joanna Dark’s voice actor said, “To my knowledge, we were pretty far along. I’d done entire chapters of this universe.” She even mentioned that the game had completed several key developmental milestones, which Microsoft was pleased about.
The Initiative Studio was developing Perfect Dark’s reboot in partnership with Crystal Dynamics under Xbox’s endorsement. The project was supposed to fill a void left by the absence of action-espionage games in recent years. However, that has changed with the release of Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater and the announcement of 007: First Light.
The cancellation came as quite a shock to everyone. Wilton-Regan learned about it online, like the rest of the world, with no prior notice from Microsoft. She added:
I was as shocked, surprised, and devastated as everyone else was when the funding was pulled, and the studio was closed.
I did not see it coming. I was absolutely blindsided when the project was defunded. It was devastating. So many people lost their jobs. An entire workforce was disbanded.
This decision came out of the blue, leading to thousands of layoffs in the Xbox Games division and the closure of many Xbox-partner studios, such as The Initiative. However, leadership from The Initiative and Crystal Dynamics scoured for two months to secure new funding in a last-ditch effort.
Interestingly, Wilton-Regan knew about these conversations and revealed that hope hadn’t died out for the Perfect Dark reboot, up until the last moment. She said:
I couldn’t say too much about it because I knew The Initiative was in talks to keep Perfect Dark up and running in some shape or form.
Possibly a slimmed-down version, possibly something slightly different. But certainly, everyone was working really hard behind the scenes to bring Perfect Dark back. And then one day, I heard from the creative director that the deal hadn’t gone through, and that really everything had fallen apart, and production was fully stopping.
Source(s)
Add as a preferred