Scotland’s largest animation studio collapses with 160 jobs lost

Almost all jobs have been lost at Scotland’s largest animation studio after administrators were appointed on Monday.

More than 160 members of staff at Glasgow-based Axis Studios, an animation and visual effects firm who produced content for global streaming giants Disney and Netflix, have been made redundant.

Axis Animation had won a Royal Television Society Scotland award for its work on League of Legends, and an Emmy for Amazon Studios production Lost in Oz.

The company was brought on by Sony Pictures to create photo-real environments, trains, cars and a wide range of weather effects for the 2022 feature film A Man Called Otto, starring Tom Hanks.

The firm, which received £250,000 of Regional Selective Assistance (RSA) funding from Scottish Enterprise in 2017, employed 166 people and a small number will be retained during the wind down process.

The company had suffered from a “decline in business and higher labour costs” despite a high demand for service during the Covid pandemic.

The company has developed animations for 24 years and was recognised by numerous awards for its work on projects that won Royal Television Society and Emmy awards.

Alistair McAlinden and Geoff Jacobs of Interpath Advisory have been appointed joint administrators to Axis Productions Limited and Axis VFX Limited, both trading as Axis Studios.

Mr McAlinden, head of Interpath Advisory in Scotland and joint administrator, said: “It is a great shame to see a creative business in Scotland close its doors.

“Axis has been a studio of choice for key production companies and has produced content for household names such as the BBC, Netflix and Blizzard Entertainment.

“The company experienced a high demand for its services during Covid as animation and visual effects for TV, film and videogames skyrocketed.

“Unfortunately, however, Axis has more recently been impacted by a decline in customer projects, as well as increases in labour costs which have resulted in severe cash flow problems.

“The directors worked tirelessly to explore alternative solutions, but ultimately had to take the difficult decision to seek the appointment of administrators.”

Geoff Jacobs, joint administrator, added: “Our priority is to give employees support in the first instance.

“We would encourage any party with an interest in Axis’ live projects to contact us immediately.”