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Yu-Gi-Oh! anime series to stream in UK, Australia & New Zealand
NEW YORK: For Yu-Gi-Oh! fans in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, the wait is over as the series is headed to their home screens. Konami Cross Media has secured new streaming/digital agreements for its flagship anime property in the UK and in Australia and New Zealand.
The announcement was made by Konami Cross Media’s general manager & SVP of operations and business & legal affairs Kristen Gray.
In the UK, Sky Kids is the first platform to exhibit the new HD formatted versions of the popular Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters show. Additionally, the streaming service has also secured VRAINS Season 1 (46 half-hour episodes), where virtual reality, artificial intelligence and high-speed duelling merge into a fighting extravaganza. Both Duel Monsters and VRAINS are available now on Sky Kids.
In the lands down under, AnimeLab, the premier stand-alone streaming platform managed by Madman Entertainment, has added Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters seasons 1 – 5. AnimeLab, which offers a basic free and a premium subscription service, has amassed more than one million users since it launched more than six years ago.
With over 230 half-hour episodes, Yu-Gi-Oh! is the story of Yugi and his best buds Joey, Tristan and Téa. They share a love for the newest game that’s sweeping the nation: Duel Monsters, a card-battling game in which players put different mystical creatures against one another in creative and strategic duels. Packed with awesome monsters and mighty spell cards, Yugi and his friends are totally obsessed with the game. But there’s more to this card game than meets the eye.
“Yu-Gi-Oh! is pure adventure, fantasy and science fiction and we are confident our audience will be delighted to share in the ‘Duels’, especially as they will be among the first to see the new HD version of Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters,” said Sky Kids acquisition executive Lisa MacKintosh.
“AnimeLab is the ultimate destination and online streaming solution for anime fans Down Under,” added Dean Prenc of Madman. “We are excited to expand our offerings with the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise.”
A synopsis of the anime reads thus: "A shy high-school student named Yugi Moto receives the fragmented pieces of an Egyptian artifact, known as the Millennium Puzzle, from his grandfather. When Yugi reassembles the puzzle he is possessed by the 3,000-year-old spirit of an ancient pharaoh. Yugi and his friends Joey, Tea and Hondo protect the puzzle, which contains powerful secrets many people would like to possess."
Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters is actually the second anime adaptation based on Kazuki Takahashi's original manga. It aired from 2000 to 2004. 4Kids Entertainment aired the anime with an English dub in the US between 2001 to 2006. Funimation and New Video Group released the series on home video. Yu-Gi-Oh! Sevens, the seventh and most recent anime series, premiered in Japan in April 2020 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the anime franchise.
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Meta plans 8,000 layoffs in new AI-led restructuring wave
First phase from May 20 may cut 10 per cent workforce amid AI pivot.
MUMBAI: At Meta, the future may be artificial but the cuts are very real. The social media giant is reportedly preparing a fresh round of layoffs, with an initial wave expected to impact around 8,000 employees as it doubles down on its artificial intelligence ambitions. According to a Reuters report, the first phase of job cuts is slated to begin on May 20, targeting roughly 10 per cent of Meta’s global workforce. With nearly 79,000 employees on its rolls as of December 31, the move marks one of the company’s most significant workforce reductions in recent years.
And this may only be the beginning. Sources indicate that additional layoffs are being planned for the second half of the year, although the scale and timing remain fluid, likely to be shaped by how Meta’s AI capabilities evolve in the coming months. Earlier reports had suggested that total cuts in 2026 could reach 20 per cent or more of its workforce.
The restructuring comes as chief executive Mark Zuckerberg continues to steer the company towards an AI-first operating model, committing hundreds of billions of dollars to the transition. Internally, this shift is already visible: teams within Reality Labs have been reorganised, engineers have been moved into a newly formed Applied AI unit, and a Meta Small Business division has been created to align with broader structural changes.
The trend is hardly isolated. Across the tech sector, companies are trimming headcount while investing aggressively in automation. Amazon, for instance, has reportedly cut around 30,000 corporate roles nearly 10 per cent of its white-collar workforce citing efficiency gains driven by AI. Data from Layoffs.fyi shows over 73,000 tech employees have already lost jobs this year, compared with 153,000 in all of 2024.
For Meta, the move echoes its earlier “year of efficiency” in 2022–23, when about 21,000 roles were eliminated amid slowing growth and market pressures. This time, however, the backdrop is different. The company is financially stronger, generating over $200 billion in revenue and $60 billion in profit last year, with shares up 3.68 per cent year-to-date though still below last summer’s peak.
That contrast underlines the shift underway. These layoffs are less about survival and more about reinvention. As Meta restructures itself around AI from autonomous coding agents to advanced machine learning systems, the question is no longer whether the company will change, but how many roles will be left unchanged when it does.
