Difficult start to 2024 for the animation industry: layoffs and uncertainties

2023 was a difficult year for the animation industry, with studios, streaming platforms and tech companies of all sizes laying off significant numbers of workers. We remain confident in a robust industry revival in 2024, but so far the year has started on a negative note with few hires and post-holiday cuts at several media companies.

We launched a layoff tracker last year to track significant layoffs across the industry and give workers an overview of the animation, visual effects and video game employment landscape. Due to the still highly volatile nature of the industry, we are relaunching the tracker in 2024.

As was the case last year, we only include layoffs that we have been able to reliably confirm and so the true scale of layoffs in the industry is larger than those listed here. We rely on readers to help us with the accuracy of this list, so if you have suggestions (especially with supporting documentation), please let us know.

Additionally, if you are currently unemployed and looking for work, we recommend following this spreadsheet with a constantly updated list of animation job offers.

2024 Animation, VFX, Video Game Layoff Timeline
January 11 – Pixar: On the same day that the studio's latest film, Elemental, received six Annie Award nominations, it was revealed that Disney-owned Pixar will lay off a significant number of workers in 2024, but not more than 20% of its 1.300-person staff.

January 8 – Unity: Software developer Unity announced its fourth and largest round of layoffs since July 2022, when it revealed that 1.800 employees, just over 25% of its global workforce, would be made redundant.



Source: www.cartoonbrew.com