Joanna Dark actor asks fans to call for Perfect Dark to be saved, as Adam Jensen's actor details financial loss due to cancellation - "You can't help but look at the holds and think about the $ that would have been made."


Joanna Dark actor Alix Wilton Regan has implored fans to use their voices to save Perfect Dark, after the game was cancelled by Microsoft earlier this week.

On Wednesday, Microsoft announced a wave of layoffs across the company, with games such as its Perfect Dark reboot, a new Zenimax MMORPG and Rare's Everwild all cancelled as a result. At this time, Microsoft also shuttered Perfect Dark's studio, The Initiative.

Soon after, Joanna Dark's actor shared an image of her Perfect Dark character on social media, calling her "Resilient. Determined. Creative. Caring. Strong". Adding that her time working with The Initiative had been "an honour", Regan stated: "Agent Dark doesn't give up and neither should any of you.... like Joanna, we will all rise again."

Regan has now called for fans to "speak up if you wanna see Perfect Dark survive". In a recent social media post, the Joanna actor wrote that "a lot of people have been reaching out and floating this idea on my timeline, my phone and in my DMs, so I'm just gonna say it:

"I HOPE WE LIVE IN A NICE WORLD."

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Meanwhile, actor Elias Toufexis - known for playing Adam Jensen in the Deus Ex series - says "thousands of dollars" he was expecting will now be lost due to the cancellation of Perfect Dark.

In his own post on social media, Toufexis revealed he had "a good amount of days of acting in Perfect Dark" that got "scrapped" when Microsoft put an end to the reboot earlier this week.

"These games getting cancelled is a constant threat," Toufexis wrote, "..now every game I do as director or actor I wake up hoping it isn't cancelled."

In subsequent posts, the actor, who has also had roles in the likes of Starfield, assured his followers that he does get paid for the days he works. "But when you're working on a game they 'hold' you for x amount of days each month. (so I can schedule work around other games and shows)," Toufexis elaborated.

"You can't help but look at the holds and think about the $ that would have been made."

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Word of this week's layoffs at Microsoft - which also impacted the likes of King, Raven Software and more - first began last month, when a report stated Xbox was set to restructure much of its central-European distribution. At this time, Bloomberg described the then-upcoming redundancies as a "major restructuring", and the fourth case of layoffs to hit Xbox in the last 18 months.

In May, Xbox cut three percent of its total workforce, which at the time was the biggest loss of staff since 2023. Previously in September 2024, Xbox laid off 650 employees, which it said was to "organise our business for long term success".


About the author...

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Victoria Phillips Kennedy

Joining Eurogamer in 2022, Victoria is a baby-faced old soul with a penchant for Pimm's, pancakes and pirates, but not all at the same time 🥞 actually, maybe all at the same time...

Currently playing: Blue Prince
 
I know how much money this "game" (if it even existed to begin with) would have probably made, very likely would have been a flop even across every platform possible like pretty much all of Microsoft's latest gaming output.
Exactly. Perfect Dark was already perfect on the 64. If they remade it, it'd just be full of DEI slop.
 
Anyone know if the videogame industry is like the film industry where if you're one of the leads in a flop it seriously hurts your career? Two and it's basically over? Because now that I think about it the last three big roles Elias has been in have been Starfield, fucking Marathon, and now this. Surely not, right? But to have him speak out like this seems a little unprofessional so I'm wondering if he's facing a bit of pressure. I hope not, I always liked him and hope we get that Deus Ex presequel thing.
 
Anyone know if the videogame industry is like the film industry where if you're one of the leads in a flop it seriously hurts your career? Two and it's basically over? Because now that I think about it the last three big roles Elias has been in have been Starfield, fucking Marathon, and now this. Surely not, right? But to have him speak out like this seems a little unprofessional so I'm wondering if he's facing a bit of pressure. I hope not, I always liked him and hope we get that Deus Ex presequel thing.
If his IMDB page is anything to go by, he'll be fine.
 
I genuinely hate microsoft so unfortunately for her, I hope they cancel more games and lay off more workers. Bill Gates is a globalist faggot and I want his company to suffer any and all setbacks possible
 
We all saw this coming from day one.. They put retards without the slightest idea about the franchise in charge. Remember that last we (at least I) heard, the story was spycraft set in a post-mid climate change world, dealing with the international fallout... Sound like a PD story to you? Because it doesn't to me. More like current year slop. (this was back when climate change narratives were the hot game trend, before the Battle Field game that leaned real hard into it and tanked the series for good) This is a series about aliens, cyberpunk and super science with a bondish twist.

ugh.. Who the hell was that image supposed to be of?
 
Anyone know if the videogame industry is like the film industry where if you're one of the leads in a flop it seriously hurts your career? Two and it's basically over? Because now that I think about it the last three big roles Elias has been in have been Starfield, fucking Marathon, and now this. Surely not, right? But to have him speak out like this seems a little unprofessional so I'm wondering if he's facing a bit of pressure. I hope not, I always liked him and hope we get that Deus Ex presequel thing.
The Voice Acting isn't enough of a draw in games to in any way impact them positively or negatively. The VA's are a Value Add. Not the core product being sold. As long as a VA is competent, easy to work with, professional, and not insanely expensive, they will get more work. Regardless of how the last game sold.
 
Anyone know if the videogame industry is like the film industry where if you're one of the leads in a flop it seriously hurts your career? Two and it's basically over? Because now that I think about it the last three big roles Elias has been in have been Starfield, fucking Marathon, and now this. Surely not, right? But to have him speak out like this seems a little unprofessional so I'm wondering if he's facing a bit of pressure. I hope not, I always liked him and hope we get that Deus Ex presequel thing.
Not really, no. Very rarely are VAs even considered to be important enough to actually have an impact on the game - and the few that do aren't Voice Actors - they usually do some kind of full body motion/face capture anyhow.

Generally speaking "good" VAs are trying to land a decent gig and then get the fuck out of Voice Acting into anything else - either streaming, TV shows, movies, and so on. It's also a thing that already famous actors can do for a paycheck between projects (aka Kevin Spacey, Mark Hamill, Kit Harrington, and in every project either Phil Lamarr or Deborah Wilson) as well.
 
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