Glasgow-based Axis Studios (Scrooge: A Christmas Carol, LEGO: City Adventures) has been put into administration, with all production halted and 162 employees laid off. 

Administration is the insolvency procedure for UK companies that are unable to pay their debts. Two managing directors from business restructuring firm Interpath Advisory have been brought in to handle creditors and find companies that can continue the projects Axis was working on. 

Axis only had 166 employees, so there are just four left who have been retained by Interpath’s administrators to share knowledge and help them wind down the company. 

The studio has previously worked with the BBC (VFX on Our Girl), Netflix (animation on LEGO: City Adventures, pictured) and Blizzard Entertainment (animated music video for the League of Legends song “More”). And in June 2023, it partnered with Hungary’s DIGIC to co-develop and co- produce a family film called Worlds Apart. 

A decline in projects and increased labor costs created a cash-flow problem for Axis, said Alistair McAliden, head of Interpath Advisory in Scotland and one of the administrators working with the studio.

The studio was founded in 2000, and during the pandemic there was a strong demand for its animation and VFX work across film, TV and video games—but that has since dried up.