Comparison between VFX Studios 2024 edition
Wanted to take a look at the ratings of VFX companies again. Instead of renewing the old article I decided to write a new one so comparing them would give us a lot more information. Was very curious to see how things changed compared to my previous comparison.
If you haven’t seen my previous comparison article head HERE because it will make a lot more sense seeing what changed in the industry. This time I tried to add more companies to the mix and that’s why I looked at the companies that have at least 40 reviews (had a 60 review cap before). Also this time I added number of employees and websites for each studio.
Just like before the ratings and pros/cons are not my personal opinions, my source is Glassdoor.com. Take these reviews with a pinch of salt since things change and overall look might be different now. I am merely trying to get an overall look.
The review numbers and ratings might be different based on when you are reading this, since I prepared this article in June 2024. This time I looked at 41 studios across all the world.
I removed Walt Disney Animation Studios from the mix because there are a lot more positions in Walt Disney other than animation jobs since it is a huge company. I realize that recruiters or accountants and many different people work in VFX studios not just artists but in Walt Disney’s case there were comments and reviews from people working in trade sales to cast members or show keepers. So I thought this didn’t really give a correct review for my case.
Also if you are interested I came upon a link that shows how much each VFX studio grew from 2022 to 2024 by Joseph Bell on an interactive chart HERE.
Companies
Rising Sun Pictures 4.0 ⭐- 48 reviews — HQ = Adelaide — Australia
1 to 50 Employees — www.rsp.com.au
✅ Great people, culture, excellent work-life balance
❌ Low salary. Management is inexperienced
Trixter 4.1 ⭐- 43 reviews — HQ = Munich — Germany
51 to 200 Employees — www.trixter.de
✅ Great people. Good salary
❌Management is not great
Cosa VFX 3.8 ⭐- 58 reviews — HQ = Los Angeles, CA
51 to 200 Employees — www.cosavfx.com
✅ Great people, great work-life balance
❌Bad management
Blur Studio 3.2 ⭐- 67 reviews — HQ = Culver City, CA
51 to 200 Employees — www.blur.com
✅ Great people, nice work environment
❌Low pay, long hours, bad management
Jellyfish Pictures 3.1 ⭐- 104 reviews — HQ = London, UK
51 to 200 Employees — www.jellyfishpictures.co.uk
✅ Great people
❌Low pay
Digic Pictures 3.7 ⭐- 68 reviews — HQ = Budapest, Hungary
201 to 500 Employees — www.digicpictures.com
✅ Nice people and team
❌Low pay. Chaotic management
Image Engine 4.7 ⭐- 63 reviews — HQ = Vancouver, Canada
1 to 50 Employees — www.image-engine.com
✅ Great people, good work environment
❌Low pay
Framestore 4.0 ⭐- 589 reviews — HQ = London, UK
1001 to 5000 Employees — www.framestore.com
✅ Great people, good work-life balance, good work environment
❌Long hours, low pay, bad management
M P C 3.5 ⭐- 1.2K reviews — HQ = London, UK
1001 to 5000 Employees — www.moving-picture.com
✅ Good supervisors, great projects and people
❌Low salary, poor management
Animal Logic 4.4 ⭐- 173 reviews — HQ = Moore Park, Australia
501 to 1000 Employees — www.animallogic.com
✅ Great people, great environment
❌Average salary, average benefits, long hours
Zoic 4.2 ⭐- 129 reviews — HQ = Culver City, CA
201 to 500 Employees — www.zoicstudios.com
✅ Great people, competitive pay, free food
❌Bad management, no benefits
ILM 4.3 ⭐- 355 reviews — HQ = San Francisco, CA
501 to 1000 Employees — www.ilm.com
✅ Great team, people, good benefits, great projects
❌Low pay, poor managers
Fuse FX 3.2 ⭐- 124 reviews — HQ = Los Angeles, CA
201 to 500 Employees — www.fusefx.com
✅ Good people, great supervisors, good management
❌Low pay, long hours
Pixomondo 3.4 ⭐- 176 reviews — HQ = Los Angeles, CA
501 to 1000 Employees — www.pixomondo.com
✅ Great people and team, paid overtime
❌No benefits, low salary, bad management
Digital Domain 3.8 ⭐- 239 reviews — HQ = Los Angeles, CA
501 to 1000 Employees — www.digitaldomain.com
✅ Great people, good pay
❌Bad benefits, bad management
Reel FX 4.0 ⭐- 175 reviews — HQ = Dallas — TX
201 to 500 Employees — www.reelfx.com
✅ Great people, great work environment
❌Low pay, inexperienced management
Method Studios 3.6 ⭐- 263 reviews — HQ = Santa Monica, CA
501 to 1000 Employees — www.methodstudios.com
✅ Great people, good pay, good work environment
❌Poor management, long hours, bad supervisors
Dreamworks Animation 3.8 ⭐- 715 reviews — HQ = Glendale, CA
1001 to 5000 Employees — www.dreamworks.com
✅ Great people, free food
❌Low pay, poor management
Sony Pictures Enternainment 4.0 ⭐- 1.5K reviews — HQ = Culver City, CA
5001 to 10000 Employees — www.sonypicturesjobs.com
✅ Great people, good work-life balance
❌Poor management, low pay, lack of leadership
Skydance 3.7 ⭐- 132 reviews — HQ = Santa Monica, CA
501 to 1000 Employees — www.skydance.com
✅ Awesome team, great benefits
❌Low pay, bad and old management
Nickelodeon Animation Studio 3.9 ⭐- 115 reviews — HQ = Burbank, CA
201 to 500 Employees — www.nickanimationstudio.com
✅ Great people, good culture, good benefits
❌Low pay
Rooster Teeth Productions 2.9 ⭐- 128 reviews — HQ = Austin, TX
201 to 500 Employees — www.roosterteeth.com
✅ Great people, great benefits
❌Bad management, low pay
Imageworks 4.0 ⭐- 352 reviews — HQ = Culver City, CA
501 to 1000 Employees — www.imageworks.com
✅ Great people, good salary
❌Weak management
Luma Pictures 4.4 ⭐- 130 reviews — HQ = Santa Monica, CA
201 to 500 Employees — www.luma.inc
✅ Great people
❌Low pay, bizarre company culture
The Mill 3.3 ⭐- 346 reviews — HQ = New York
51 to 200 Employees — www.themill.com
✅ Great people, free food
❌Long hours, low pay, bad management
Scanline VFX 3.9 ⭐- 226 reviews — HQ = Vancouver, Canada
1001 to 5000 Employees — www.scanlinevfx.com
✅ Great people, good pay
❌Clueless managers
Weta Digital 3.7 ⭐- 249 reviews — HQ = Miramar, New Zealand
501 to 1000 Employees — www.wetafx.co.nz
✅ Great projects, good people, good pay, free food
❌Long hours, bad management, no benefits
DNEG 3.6 ⭐- 1.1K reviews — HQ = London, UK
1001 to 5000 Employees — www.dneg.com
✅ Great people, good pay, good work-life balance
❌Low salary, long hours
Mr. X 3.5 ⭐- 286 reviews — HQ = Toronto, Canada
501 to 1000 Employees — www.mrxfx.com
✅ Great people
❌Bad management, low salary, bad work-life balance
Cinesite 3.8 ⭐- 242 reviews — HQ = London, UK
501 to 1000 Employees — www.cinesite.com
✅ Great people, decent pay, good work-life balance
❌Unsupportive management, aggressive supervisors
Rodeo FX 3.4 ⭐- 158 reviews — HQ = Montrel, Canada
501 to 1000 Employees — www.rodeofx.com
✅ Great people, good culture, good benefits, good pay
❌Bad management, bad communication and overtime
Spin VFX 2.6 ⭐- 133 reviews — HQ = Toronto, Canada
51 to 200 Employees — www.spinvfx.com
✅ Amazing people
❌Bad management, low salary, pathetic benefits
Pixar Animation Studios 4.4 ⭐- 325 reviews — HQ = Emeryville, CA
1001 to 5000 Employees — www.pixar.com
✅ Great people, beautiful campus, good work-life balance
❌Low pay, long hours
Flying Bark Productions 3.2 ⭐- 65 reviews — HQ = Camperdown, Australia
51 to 200 Employees — www.flyingbark.com.au
✅ Fantastic team
❌Low pay, difficult work-life balance, chaotic management
Redefine 3.3 ⭐- 98 reviews — HQ = London, UK
501 to 1000 Employees — www.redefine.co
✅ Good people, good benefits
❌No work-life balance, lacking communication
El Ranchito 4.3 ⭐- 49 reviews — HQ = Madrid, Spain
1 to 50 Employees — www.elranchito.es
✅ Awesome people
❌Low salary
Ghost VFX 3.9 ⭐- 43 reviews — HQ = Copenhagen, Denmark
1 to 50 Employees — www.ghost.dk
✅ Good people, friendly management
❌No stability, you can lose your job unexpectedly
BOT VFX 4.2 ⭐- 53 reviews — HQ = Atlanta, GA
51 to 200 Employees — www.botvfx.com
✅ Good environment, good management
❌No work-life balance
Edisen 2.7 ⭐- 64 reviews — HQ = Stockholm, Sweden
201 to 500 Employees — www.edisen.com
✅ Great people
❌Low pay, no bonuses
Axis Studios 4.3 ⭐- 125 reviews — HQ = Glasgow, UK
201 to 500 Employees — www.axisstudiosgroup.com
✅ Great team, efficient management
❌Low pay
Bardel Entertainment 4.2 ⭐- 284 reviews — HQ = Vancouver, Canada
201 to 500 Employees — www.bardel.co
✅ Great people, great benefits
❌Low pay
The 40 review cap number eliminated some famous companies which was a shock for me like UPP, Phantom FX, Milk VFX, Main Road Post and Important Looking Pirates. Hopefully next time they’ll be in the mix.
My Comments
The review winner is Image Engine with 4.7 star rating. (was Animal Logic with the same star rating before) The second position is filled with three companies with a 4.4 rating which are Animal Logic, Pixar Animation Studios and Luma Pictures. This means Nickelodeon Animation Studio is kicked out of the top three which was in the second position on my previous comparison. The third position is again shared with three companies with 4.3 star rating. Those companies are ILM, El Ranchito and Axis Studios.
The worst performing company is unfortunately Spin VFX with 2.6 star rating followed by Edisen with 2.7 rating. The third worst rated studio has 2.9 star rating which is Rooster Teeth Productions.
Average rating is = 3.75
✅ Many companies ratings declined, however there are a few that significantly increased their star ratings compared to my previous comparison from 2 years ago. Those companies are Reel FX, ILM, Luma Pictures and Scanline VFX.
✅ Bad management seems like the new problem in the VFX industry, however at least there are some companies like Fuse FX, BOT VFX and Axis Studios that have “good management” as a pro.
✅ Just like my previous comparison nearly all the companies have the “good people” comment. It seems people that work in this sector are (still) all nice people. And I can also vouch for that.
✅ Seems like free food is still an important benefit for people in the United States. Maybe people enjoy free food not because it is free but because free food saves a lot of time instead of leaving the office and going out to eat.
✅ The “good salary” or “good pay” comment is unfortunately hard to come by so wanted to point out the companies that have that comment which are Trixter, Digital Domain, Method Studios, Imageworks, Scanline VFX, Weta Digital and Rodeo FX.
✅ Weta Digital has all the common pros, which are great projects, good people, good pay and free food. And that is rare to see.
❌ The negative comments as always are ranging around long hours, low pay and bad management across all the companies. Similar to the positivity in Weta Digital unfortunately The Mill and Framestore caught my attention with having all three cons in their pages.
❌Overall I noticed that a big majority of the companies’ star ratings fell. And it seems like it is mostly because of management. I noticed there are way more comments about bad management than before.
❌ Compared to my previous post Spin VFX, Cinesite, Rooster Teeth Productions, Nickelodeon Animation Studios had big declines in star ratings.
⭕ This time I noticed that all the pipeline comments are replaced with management comments. In my previous research there were a lot of cons or pros about pipeline, this time I rarely saw any. This means either companies fixed/ improved their pipelines, or people were accusing the pipeline instead of management.
⭕ DNEG has some contradicting pros and cons. It has good pay and work life balance as a pro but then again low salary and long hours as a con. I know DNEG is a huge company spread across multiple continents so maybe it is normal that people have contradicting opinions but still looks a bit strange.
⭕ Something strange about El Ranchito is that there are 1 to 50 employees in the company and there are 49 reviews. I know that former employees there might have commented but for a company that small the review numbers are high which is a good thing I guess.
⭕ I realized this one by luck and didn’t check this for each company but Pixomondo has some drastic star rating changes based on location. Pixomondo Canada has a 3.9 rating whereas if you choose Germany in the filters it gives you 2.8, even worse Pixomondo US has 2.0 rating. This means location makes a big change. So when you are checking a company make sure you pick the location just in case. (Average Pixomondo rating is 3.4)
