It was earlier reported that all video content had been pulled from Machinima’s YouTube channel which shocked the internet community. It heralded the end of an era that has been a staple of internet culture. The deletion of these videos came after AT&T/Otter Media merged with Machinima after they purchased the company from Warner.
Today, if the deletion of the videos wasn’t the proverbial nail in the coffin, it was reported that 81 out of the 100 staff members at Machinima were laid off. In addition to the layoff, it was reported that Machinima was ceasing all operations. The layoffs occurred, roughly, two weeks ago and due to the state of California’s labor laws, the staff members will remain employees of the company for 60 additional days, marking their final day at Machinima as March 16.
The merger occurred on January 1 of this year. AT&T also laid off 10% of Otter Media’s staff during a restructuring after the acquisition. As for the remaining members of Machinima, it appears that some have moved to Fullscreen while the others were folded into Otter Media itself. Despite all of this, AT&T still sees value in the brand and they plan to amplify their focus on the gaming and anime community.
Simply put, AT&T bought the intellectual property and will now run their own show, thus shedding the unneeded staff that came as part of the purchase.
What the future of Machinima looks like remains to be seen. We do not know what AT&T plans to do with the brand but what is for certain is that the brand that we once knew is forever gone.
