Moonbug Closes ‘Oddbods’ Producer One Animation Less Than Two Years After Acquiring The Studio

Less than two years after purchasing Southeast Asian studio One Animation, Moonbug has shuttered the company’s Singapore offices.

One Animation was launched in 2008 and is best known for producing the three-time Emmy-nominated series Oddbods, a dialogue-free comedy show for kids that has been broadcast in more than 180 countries. The show’s main Youtube channel has amassed 10.6 million followers and more than 8 billion views. Other titles worked on by the studio include Netflix’s Sharkdog and an Oddbod’s spin-off series called Minibods.

Moonbug plans to keep Oddbods and Minibods on the market, with its offices in Singapore focusing on expanding the franchises. A fourth, although much shorter, season of Oddbods will debut later this month.

A Moonbug spokesperson confirmed the shutdown to Cartoon Brew but did not provide us with updated numbers on how many employees worked at the studio at the time of its closure. However, when Moonbug acquired One Animation in 2022, the studio employed 60 workers at its Singapore location.

According to the spokesperson, workers who lost their jobs were offered compensation and job placement services, although no further specifics were shared.

Explaining the shutdown, the spokesperson told us:

When Moonbug acquired One Animation in 2022, it not only acquired an incredible premium kids’ franchise in Oddbods, but also an incredible Singapore-based leadership team and production studio. At that time, the production capabilities not only supported Oddbods but also provided third-party animation services for other media companies. As was always the plan, in order to focus resources entirely on Moonbug’s owned franchises, we have scaled back the studio operations and wound down third-party services. Consistent with the majority of Moonbug’s production pipeline, most animation is now being outsourced. We are immensely grateful for the valuable contributions from the team, and the

Those familiar with Moonbug’s modus operandi will know that the company handles pre- and post-production in-house and outsources animation services to third-party studios, further explaining the One Animation Shutdown. That strategy also led to Moonbug laying off CoComelon workers last November.

That said, it is worth noting that Moonbug, like many media companies, had a rough 2023. The Blackstone-owned company fell roughly 30% short of its profit forecasts, as reported by Bloomberg.