Glasgow-based Axis Studios (Scrooge: A Christmas Carol, LEGO: City Adventures) has laid off 160 employees and has been put into administration. All the studio’s productions have been halted. According to the BBC, the company has been experiencing “severe cash flow problems,” due to a decrease in the number of client projects and rising labor costs.
Administrators Interpath Advisory confirmed that 162 employees have lost their jobs and four people have been retained to help shut down the studio, which was founded in 2000. Axis was known for the animation and vfx services it provided for projects in TV, film, video games and theme park sectors, including work on brands such as Harry Potter, Doctor Who, Luther and Magic the Gathering. Axis won a Royal Television Society Scotland award for its work on League of Legends, and an Emmy for Amazon Studios’s Lost in Oz.The company also created photo-real environments and effects for the 2022 feature film A Man Called Otto, starring Tom Hanks. Axis recently worked on a major campaign for the mobile game, Clash of Clans.
“It was a great shame to see a creative business in Scotland close its doors,” said Alistair McAlinden, the head of Interpath Advisory in Scotland and joint administrator. “Axis has more recently been impacted by a decline in customer projects, as well as increases in labor costs which have resulted in severe cash flow problems.”
The studio was founded in 2000 by Richard Scott, in partnership with Dana Dorian, Stuart Aitken and Graham McKenna.
Sources: BBC, STV News
