162 employees made redundant and all projects have ceased

Axis Studios

Glasgow-based Axis Studios has appointed administrators, Alistair McAlinden and Geoff Jacobs of Interpath Advisory, and made 162 of its 166 employees redundant. 

The four other employees have been kept on to assist with winding down Axis Productions Limited and Axis VFX Limited, and transfer knowledge to the administrators. All projects that the company was working on have ceased and the administrators are seeking operators to continue the live projects.

McAlinden explained that Axis has been forced into this move due to a lack of work during the post-Covid downturn, and also blames high labour costs: “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.”

Jacobs 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.”

Axis launched in 2000, and by 2008 was Scotland’s largest animation studio. It also had a presence at Bottle Yard Studios in Bristol, and was making hires as recently as March 2024. It worked on feature films (Prince Caspian, Hellboy, Shaun the Sheep Movie, Clash of the Titans, Harry Potter) and TV (Shetland, Doctor Who, Eve, Red Dwarf, Wizards vs Aliens, Misfits, Survivors).