Glitch Productions Pty. Ltd. (credited as Glitch and stylised as GLITCH; formerly Glitchy Boy or Glitchy Boy Productions) is an Australian independentanimation studio based in Sydney, New South Wales. The studio was founded in 2017 by brothers Kevin and Luke Lerdwichagul, who are known for creating the sketch comedymachinimaweb seriesSMG4.
Co-founder Luke Lerdwichagul started making YouTube videos in 2009. On 7May 2011, at the age of 11, Luke created his first web series; a Super Mario 64-based machinima later to be known as SMG4 (an acronym of his YouTube channel name, "SuperMarioGlitchy4").[‡ 2] Produced using footage from an emulated version of Super Mario 64,[citation needed] the series originally focused on Mario characters going on adventures that often involve parodies of internet memes and pop culture.[2] Over time, the series would begin using Garry's Mod (which uses the game engine Source as a base), and featured a more prominent cast of original characters. Between 2014 and 2016, the channel would experience significant growth in popularity going from 100,000subscribers at the beginning of 2014 to 1,000,000subscribers by the end of 2016.[citation needed]
Around 2016, Luke's older brother, Kevin Lerdwichagul, had observed the channel and its wide audience. He saw the potential to form a business around the channel, later joining SMG4 as a full-time writer and producer. Luke took on a directing role, as well as voicing his titular author surrogate character.[3]
Creation
On 24May 2017, Luke uploaded a fan mail video to the SMG4 channel, where he briefly mentioned that he founded a company, dubbed Glitchy Boy, to represent the SMG4, Hobo Bros., and TheAwesomeMario channels.[‡ 3] On 5September 2018, in a formal announcement video, Kevin and Luke fully explained the concept of their company, now rebranded as Glitch Productions. During the video, they also unveiled Hitbox, a live-action series starring Kevin and Luke acting as various Nintendo characters.[‡ 4]
On 5December 2018, following multiple teasers on the SMG4 channel, Glitch released the trailer for Meta Runner, and the first episode premiered on 25July 2019.[4] The series was funded by Screen Australia, and became the top-performing online investment from the company, racking up 10million viewers across its first season. Meta Runner was later reuploaded to the Glitch Productions YouTube channel.[5] The first season was also financed with support from Crunchyroll and AMD,[6] and was produced in association with Epic Games.[6][7] On 20April 2020, Screen Australia announced that they would be funding a second season of Meta Runner.[8]
2020–present
On 27August 2020, Glitch officially separated the SMG4 channel from Glitch, and created the GLITCH channel to focus on its non-SMG4 projects. Its first videos released that day would be an announcement video and the first season of Meta Runner remade in Movie format.[‡ 5] They would soon after release the pilot to Ultra Jump Mania (a spin-off of Meta Runner that would later be cancelled) and season 2 of Meta Runner.[citation needed]
On 12March 2021, Glitch unveiled an SMG4 spin-off centred on the SMG4 character Meggy Spletzer called Sunset Paradise. The pilot would be released on 26March 2021.[‡ 6] On 12May 2021, the show received online production funding from Screen Australia.[9]
On 9October 2021, it was announced that Glitch would be releasing a pilot titled Murder Drones on 29October, created, written, and directed by Liam Vickers. While earlier Glitch projects were essentially created on a monetary loss, Murder Drones greatly outperformed expectations and received millions of views per episode.[10][11]
On 1September 2023, Glitch announced that they would be hosting a livestreaming event called "GlitchX" on 9November 2023; where they would announce their upcoming show, The Gaslight District, in collaboration with animator Nick Szopko which went on to release its pilot episode on 18 April 2025.[12]
On 13October 2023, the pilot for The Amazing Digital Circus, a series created in collaboration with Gooseworx, was released. The pilot garnered 100 million views in its first month, becoming the most popular indie animation video. The Amazing Digital Circus would also increase Glitch's notoriety, garnering news coverage, as well as their YouTube channel eventually reaching 10million subscribers and 1billion total views.[13][14]
On 5July 2024, Glitch launched FinalFinal_Project, a merchandise company that helps funding with other shows, with Iron Circus Animation, the producers of the Lackadaisy animated adaptation, being their first partners.[‡ 7][non-primary source needed]
On 4October 2024, Glitch officially announced the debut of The Amazing Digital Circus to Netflix. It is the first Glitch production to be available on the platform. Glitch in addition has stated that Netflix will have no creative control over the series, and new episodes would continue to premiere on YouTube first.[15]
On 17January 2025, Glitch announced their first 2D animated series Knights of Guinevere in collaboration with Dana Terrace, John Bailey Owen, and Zach Marcus. Its pilot episode premiered on 19 September 2025. The series is also Glitch's first co-production, being co-produced by the Irish animation company Studio Meala.[‡ 8][16][17]
On 10March 2025, it was announced that the web animation group ZAMination would be partnering with Glitch to creatively direct Glitch's future marketing campaigns.[‡ 9][non-primary source needed]
On 16May 2025, Glitch announced that Murder Drones had been added to Amazon Prime Video. Earlier rumours had circulated about the show's addition, after the Italian and Turkish accounts for Prime Video accidentally revealed the news in advance. Prime Video will also support Glitch's future shows in a multi-title deal, with all shows being shown on both YouTube and Prime Video.[18]
On 10 October 2025, during the studio's first official Glitch Direct presentation, Glitch announced that they would be co-producing the Lackadaisy animated series adaptation. In addition, Glitch also announced two new labels for the studio: "Glitch Presents" and "Glitch Originals".[‡ 10][19]
In March 2024, Glitch was accused of firing Celeste Notley-Smith, the voice actress of Tari from Meta Runner and SMG4, in a callous manner, and recasting her with Lottie Bourne, which led to allegations against the studio and confusion among fans. Notley-Smith wrote on Twitter that she was not notified of her role being recast. Several days later, she released a statement in which she explained that after discovering she had been recast, she reached out to the Lerdwichaguls, asking why she was removed from her role without contact from the team. It was later stated by general manager Jasmine Yang that it was down to a communication error on Yang's part. Despite this, Robyn Barry-Cotter, the voice actress for Theo from Meta Runner, left Glitch Productions due to the controversy, which also left one of the SMG4 characters without a voice.[20]
The studio was additionally alleged of longer work hours, blacklisting of ex-employees, and harassment, largely from Kevin Lerdwichagul. On 4 March 2024, Kevin released a statement via Glitch's social media outlets addressing the controversies, doubling as an apology to workers who had negative experience with the company. Kevin acknowledged that during the early phases of Glitch, he was inexperienced, however, he mandated that harassment of his staff and community was not tolerated such as a situation where his address was leaked.[‡ 11] Kevin additionally claimed the studio had faced prior issues due to being short-staffed, but had largely resolved worker conditions by 2023.[21]
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