Some notable downsizing is happening in the entertainment and gaming sectors this week. 

Deadline is reporting that LA-based Anonymous Content initiated a wave of cuts yesterday, eliminating 15% of its 150-person workforce.

Best known for its prestige movies and series, the banner has also worked on the Apple TV+ kids & family show Time Bandits (pictured, 2024) and teen-skewing Netflix titles including 13 Reasons Why (2017 to 2020) and Boy Swallows Universe (2024). 

Next up on its slate, Anonymous is currently working on a Little House on the Prairie reboot that Netflix greenlit earlier this year.

Meanwhile, UGC platform Rec Room has laid off roughly half of its workforce, citing “a business necessity based on the financial trajectory of the company” in Monday’s announcement by co-founders Nick Fajt and Cameron Brown.

Based in Seattle, the nine-year-old company has raised significant capital in recent years, including a US$145-million funding round in 2021 at a US$3.5-billion valuation. It has also signed several major brand partnerships for its platform, running a Masters of the Universe event with Mattel in 2022, plus other limited-time gaming activations with Puma and the NFL.

Fajt and Brown have said that Rec Room has faced significant challenges since most of its “impactful creation” stems from users on PC and VR, rather than mobile and consoles—even while those devices added a huge strain by producing millions of pieces of content.