Netflix just laid off another 30 people from its animation department

Although it’s been largely over-shadowed by the unpleasantness over at HBO Max—in much the same way that a simple, prosaic forest fire can have its thunder stolen by the majesty of an actively erupting volcano—Netflix’s embattled animation department demonstrated some fresh signs of embattlement today. That’s per Deadline, which reports that the streamer’s animation team—which was haphazardly killing off kid-friendly cartoon projects before it was cool—has reportedly suffered another 30 layoffs this afternoon.

Netflix started going seriously after its animation side back in April, as part of the major budget cuts the streaming service enacted not long after its subscription numbers began to drop back at the start of 2022. (The suggestion that streaming Ozymandias might have no more smart TVs to conquer provoked a whole bunch of big moves at the company, even as investors very quickly got very angry over the company’s perceived loss in value.) Netflix cut big chunks out of many of its departments at the time; it also cleared off a number of animation projects on its slate, including a much-anticipated adaptation of Jeff Smith’s Bone.

That being said, today’s layoffs apparently aren’t, per the company, about cutting back on the actual animated output of the streamer, which includes a mix of kids-focused material and cartoons more aimed at adults. No, this is about streamlining, about creating a lean, mean team of animation developers who can, uh, cancel projects with levels of efficiency and focus here-to-fore only imagined by teams of Netflix executives. (Or, you know, whatever it is that streaming executives in this dip in streaming fortunes actually do.) In any case, it’s 30 more people out of a job at a company that was projecting an aura of infinite money invincibility just one short year ago.