“I did not see it coming. I was absolutely blindsided” — star of Xbox’s canceled Perfect Dark reboot and the next Tomb Raider shares her “devastating” story

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Earlier this year, Microsoft cut over 9,000 jobs company-wide, impacting all departments, including Xbox. This also affected several game development teams within Xbox Game Studios, resulting in the cancellation of some games that were still being developed.

Several games were affected by these changes, including Rare’s upcoming game Everwild, a new MMO from The Elder Scrolls Online team at ZeniMax Online, and unfortunately, the planned reboot of Perfect Dark. Microsoft also closed The Initiative, the studio created in 2018 specifically to develop the new Perfect Dark.

Rare announced the return of their sci-fi stealth shooter series in 2020, and showed off gameplay footage at the Xbox Games Showcase in 2024 just months before the project was cancelled. Although there were known development challenges, the decision to stop work on the game was still a surprise to many, including those outside of the player community.

Alix Wilton-Regan, the actress who was set to play the lead role of Joanna Dark and known for her work in games like Dragon Age, Mass Effect, and Cyberpunk 2077, recently told TheGamer she was surprised by the news of The Initiative’s layoffs, project cancellations, and studio closure. She learned about it at the same time as the general public.

She said she was just as shocked and upset as everyone else when the funding was cut and the studio shut down. She hadn’t expected it at all and was completely caught off guard by the news.

As an analyst, I can tell you the impact was truly devastating. We saw widespread job losses and the complete dismantling of a skilled workforce. What really struck me was the sudden loss of a thriving creative and collaborative environment – it all disappeared overnight. It was an incredibly difficult time for everyone involved.

Wilton-Regan said she’d been collecting various assets throughout 2023, and that The Initiative was heavily involved in performance capture for the project in 2024. This made her believe the game had made significant progress.

She had developed significant portions of the game’s story and world, and the team had successfully met several key goals that the client praised. However, she wasn’t sure how much of the overall game had actually been completed. Ultimately, Microsoft decided that continuing development wasn’t feasible based on its current state.

When Take-Two attempted to revive Perfect Dark after Microsoft canceled it, Wilton-Regan was initially hopeful. However, the deal fell apart because of a dispute over who owned the game, leaving him deeply disappointed.

She explained that losing hope happened on a particularly difficult day. While hesitant to share details, she confirmed that a lot of effort was going into reviving Perfect Dark. Then, she learned from the creative director that the necessary deal had failed, causing the project to fall apart and production to halt completely.

I’ve never faced a situation like the one with Perfect Dark in my entire career. Now that I’ve seen it happen once, it’s scary to think it could happen again, she explained.

Wilton-Regan is starring as Lara Croft in the upcoming Tomb Raider: Catalyst game. While she’s grateful for the role and it’s been a positive experience, she’s also worried about the project falling through, especially since the game’s developer, Crystal Dynamics, has had to lay off employees three times this year.

When development on Perfect Dark started to struggle, I was grateful I’d already been working on Lara Croft for about a year. Being able to switch between playing Joanna Dark and Lara Croft was a really creatively fulfilling time for me. I was relieved to still have Lara, but also worried about losing her – a fear that still lingers today.

I feel for Alix Wilton-Regan and the entire team behind the canceled Perfect Dark reboot, especially after the closure of The Initiative. It’s good to know that some of the project’s key developers have already found new opportunities, joining Take-Two to build a new studio for 2K.

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2025-12-19 23:40