From late 2024 into 2025, several actors came together for a series of Hollywood-style photo shoots to bring attention to the fact that, despite largely appearing in video games, they are actors of the same chops as those who appear in TV and film. This initiative, dubbed Pixel Pack, pushes for the recognition and respect for artists that all actors deserve and that, for too long, many actors within gaming have not been given. Neil Newbon, who is spearheading the Pixel Pack, summarized it best in a statement toEntertainment Weekly: “By fostering inspiration, awareness, and advocacy, we can strengthen our collective voice and ensure that performance in games continues to be recognized, respected, and protected.”
Of course, Newbon is just one name within this movement of over 30 actors. Game Rant recently spoke with another, Alix Wilton Regan, who has accomplished a lot in the industry throughout her career and has done as much for the industry within the past year. She served as executive producer for theBAFTA award-winningTales of Kenzera: Zau, she was confirmed to beJoanna Dark’s actor in thePerfect Darkreboot, and she recorded the final lines for The Inquisitor inDragon Age: The Veilguard, among other projects she could not discuss quite yet. Her work continues, as does every actor within the Pixel Pack. Perhaps she said it best when stating that “actors bring things to life” because, for the past few decades, they have brought several wonderful characters to life.
That’s not to say, however, that only actors are involved in this process. A single video game character is composed of so many creative endeavors, from writers to animation to gameplay and beyond to the actors, directors, and the collaboration between every single one of these folks and more. But actors are as important as anyone, yet they are not often treated like actors by peers in gaming and other industries.
The Pixel Pack & Credits
Of note is the fact that I intended to include every credited role in an indented bullet point below their names, but the word count genuinely terrified me.These 31 actors alone have 2300+ credits in video games, speaking to an actor’s importance in the industry.
The Great Actor Divide
The divide in perception between game actors and TV/film actors is not hard to identify. When I say Iron Man or Captain America in reference to the MCU, everyone instantly knows I mean Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans (as just an example). That’s not to say this character association doesn’t happen in gaming, but the frequency by which it happens is far less. Neil Newbon is forever irreplaceable as Astarion becauseAstarion is Neil Newbon, but that was after nearly a decade in the industry release date-wise. And just like an actor’s performance is important in a review of a movie, an actor’s performance is equally important. The medium may differ, but most of the time, they are critiqued all the same.
The counter-argument there may be that film and TV actors often have their faces and bodies on the big screen, but that argument falls flat. While actors still sometimes speak into a mic in a booth, as many games feature performance capture which requires actors to be physically expressive, to make precise movements, to perform certain emotions, and add little touches to the performance that all add to the immersion of a game. It might be experienced digitally, but as Wilton Regan highlighted, “That’s my face, my voice, my body in Assassin’s Creed Origins, in Medal of Honor, as Joanna Dark, all of it.” As another example,Red Dead Redemption 2’s Arthur Morganhas a very identifiable walk. That walk is Roger Clark’s walk: his performance, his body, his legs, his feet.
In our conversation, Wilton Regan also pointed to their education as actors, stating,
“Certainly, myself, Abu [Salim], Neil Newbon, and a lot of the heavy hitters of the video game industry are classically trained actors who’ve been through drama school, we’ve done our Shakespeare courses and our Arthur Miller plays, and all the rest of it, right?”
A rose by any other name would smell as sweet, but a rose is still a rose at the end of the day. No one would go around calling it a Lily just because both are flowers. It does make sense to call actors talent. It makes sense to say game actor or movie/tv actor when, and only when, the distinction is required (otherwise, as Wilton Regan notes, no one refers to Hollywood actors as movie/tv actors). Those names may be just as sweet. But it does not make sense to call an actor a “voice actor” when the character has the emotional expression of their actor, the body of their actor, the little eye twitches of their actor, mannerisms performed by the actor, the walk of their actor, and all of that. That just scratches the surface when cold reads are involved, when sets are elaborate, when there are a plethora of different directors likeintimacy directors, and tons of others all involved in delivering the performance of an actor. As expressed by Wilton Regan,
“One thing I hope will change, just a little bugaboo—one thing I’ve always found really weird, which I know Neil agrees with me on—I have never understood this obsession with calling actors a video game actor or a voice actor. The clue is in the title: you are an actor. That’s it. Full stop. New paragraph.”
The Pixel Pack: Recognized, Respected, and Protected
For actors to be recognized, for actors to be respected, and for actors to be protected are three goals of the Pixel Pack. Referring to them with the proper title of actor seems to be the bare minimum of that trio. Of course, meeting these actors is just as big of a deal to many fans as meeting Hollywood actors. All actors have fans, and fans carry the heaviest load in recognizing and respecting their work. Not only should this recognition and respect be more common in the industry and outside it, but they should be protected.
Perits official website, “SAG-AFTRA members have been on strike against video game employers since July 28, 2025,” over the use of AI. An agreement has not yet been reached. But if you replace Chris Evans with AI, there is no Captain America. If you replace Robert Downey Jr. with AI, there is no Iron Man. If you were to somehow replaceMeryl Streepwith AI, then roughly 100 movies and films, all her art, is made all the lesser. If you replace Neil Newbon with AI, there is no Astarion. If you replace Yuri Lowenthal with AI, there is no Spider-Man. And if you replace Alix Wilton Regan with AI, there is no Inquisitor. As she said,
“Fans love to know about how video games are made; fans love to connect with the people who bring their characters to life. You said it yourself, you know, you love the Inquisitor. Well, that’s me. There is no Inquisitor without Alix Wilton Regan. There is no Inquisitor without the brilliant writers who write all of their stuff as well, the animators who brought her face to life, and so on and so forth. But there is no Inquisitor without Alix Wilton Regan. Actors are an important part of the whole, you know, and I think it’s great to emphasize that, for sure, because that’s the human connection part, right?”
Actors are actors. Plain and simple. And as Wilton Regan said on AI:
“There’s no one that really, seriously sits there and thinks, ‘You know what? We should replace Meryl Streep’s incredible artistry with a robot.’ It’s just silly. I don’t think anyone truly believes that at their core, so I would urge companies to protect their bottom line by protecting their talent, you know? Because we are what helps bring up the bottom line: our energy, our art, our expression, our creativity. All of that is completely unique to each of us as individual humans and artists. AI can’t take that away from us, so I really hope that companies do rally around to protect us all as artists.”
