Is the Anime Industry in Freefall?

First, some background... <br><br>Over the weekend, the Chinese Anime Studio, Haoliners Animation League, announced that it has gone into liquidation. From a visit to their offices, it appears that the studio is already winding down. The studio was founded in 2013 and has produced 41 animations over that time. It was undoubtedly one of the largest Chinese Anime Studios in the world. <br><br>The Studio blamed its closure on, "Due to the macroeconomic downturn and the continuous decline of the animation market in China, the company has been in a state of continuous loss for many years". I believe this issue will affect not only Chinese Animes but also other foreign animes that relied on Chinese investors to stay afloat. <br><br>If you didn't know, the Chinese government has also recently put a ban on foreign anime in favour of domestic content. I believe this is more than likely the cause of the studio's closure. <br><br>This also relates to the Japanese Anime Industry, as it has been reported by multiple sources, that Chinese investors have been investing heavily in the Japanese Anime Industry over the last few years. Last year, Bilibili co-funded 27 anime projects, and Tencent co-funded 17. It has been reported that Chinese companies have recently bought, "Japanese studios, entertainment companies and music labels". <br><br>In the last few weeks, multiple Japanese Anime Studios, including Ufotable, Science Saru and Clover Works have all laid off workers citing, "financial difficulties". <br><br>Ufotable is the studio behind Demon Slayer, while Science Saru is the studio behind Devilman Crybaby and recent projects including, Hell's Paradise and Yu Yu Hakusho. <br><br>Clover Works who is the studio behind Spy x Family, My Dress-Up Darling, Dead Dead Demon's Dededededestruction and Horimiya has also laid off workers due to, "financial difficulties". <br><br>This is more evidence that the global Anime Industry is struggling to survive. If the Japanese Anime Industry struggles, investors will be less likely to invest money into other foreign anime projects, which could lead to even more studios closing. <br><br>I believe if this trend continues, we will continue to see closures of not only Chinese Anime Studios but also Japanese Anime Studios in the coming months. This could have major consequences for the global Anime Industry going forward. <br><br>Edit - It seems I accidentally posted in the wrong sub. I meant to post in r/animeindustry but it appears to be a new sub with very few members.