Axis Studios goes into administration – D2R cinematic remaster co-creators

Some not-so-good industry news today as Glasgow-based Axis Studios who worked on the remastering of the Diablo 2 Resurrected cinematics has gone into administration. 162 jobs have been lost.

Axis Studios has had a hand in creating some of the most memorable cinematics/trailers in the industry. We all know how well the D2R cinematics turned out. It was quite amazing what was done to bring those up to modern standards. Their work on the cinematics is described as follows:

Diablo® II: Resurrected is a shot for shot remake created with Blizzard Entertainment for the timeless action RPG classic, now remastered and upgraded. The team, led by Director Jon Yeo, completed 7 cinematic sequences spanning over a total length of 27 minutes. Each shot is carefully and considerately recreated in line with the original to deliver the most faithful and rejuvenated presentation that does so much more than a simple homage to the original game.

Axis Studios Diablo 2 Resurrected cinematics rework

Their best-known videogame work, although you probably didn’t even know it was them that put it together, was the classic Dead Island trailer which caused quite a stir when it was released thirteen years ago.

Head of the Interpath Adisory in Scotland and join administrator, Alistair McAlinden comments on the struggles at Axis.

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.

Thanks, Scottish Games Network.