Close
Search
Menu Menu

Rooster Teeth announces shut down after 21 years

Credit: Thred
By
London, UK
0 energy + Add Energy
What is energy?
Want to show your appreciation? Give an article “Energy” and it will help us know what you like.
0 comments
0 comments

For many Millennials, Rooster Teeth represented the first major shift into digital-only entertainment throughout the mid-noughties. Its closure is a goodbye to a bygone era.

Rooster Teeth, the digital-only production house that pioneered various internet shows in the noughties and tens, is shutting down after 21 years.

Parent company Warner Bros. Discovery is pulling the plug after numerous failed attempts to sell the brand and its entertainment division. Rooster Teeth’s general manager Jordan Levin made the announcement in an all-hands meeting on Wednesday, with an additional memo distributed to the company’s 150 full-time employees.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3gc6tr3_FQ

The move will affect all staff, as well as dozens of contractors and freelance creators.

An extract from Levin’s memo said that Rooster Teeth is ‘shutting down due to challenges facing digital media resulting from fundamental shifts in consumer behaviour and monetisation across platforms, advertising, and patronage.’

He also added that the company’s legacy is ‘not just a collection of content but a history of pixels burned into our screens, minds, and hearts.’

Warner Bros. Discovery is reportedly in talks to sell the rights to some of the production house’s intellectual properties, including its first and longest-running series ‘Red Vs. Blue’ and its animated mecha series ‘Gen:Lock.’

It will also be looking to sell the Roost podcast network, which covers a variety of different entertainment including gaming, true crime, fandom, comedy, and food. This network will still operate for the time being.

In a statement, Warner Bros. Discovery thanked the production company’s ‘groundbreaking creators […] and partners for their many years of success.’

At its peak, Rooster Teeth enjoyed a huge paying subscriber base. Its video-on-demand service, rebranded as First in 2016, had 225,000 paying members at the height of its popularity, which has since dwindled down to 60,000.

For over a decade, the company has not been able to turn a profit.

At its largest, it housed more than 400 full-time staff members and hosted in-person fan conventions known as RTX since 2011. Rooster Teeth has more than 45 million subscribers across its YouTube network, 1.2 million unique monthly visitors to its apps, and more than 4 million community members.

While it was undoubtedly a pioneer for online content, and one of the first companies to establish digital-only content as a commercially-viable alternative to mainstream television, Rooster Teeth faced waves of controversy over the years and was unable to keep up with a changing social media landscape.

In 2022, the company issued a public apology over accusations of toxic and sexist office culture. A former staff member came forward with her experiences of harassment, being underpaid, and marginalisation within the company.

Several male members of staff were removed from Rooster Teeth over the years for misconduct. Funhaus, a YouTube channel under the production house’s umbrella, fired one of its cast members Adam Kovic for inappropriate behaviour in 2020, for example. It was a pattern that repeatedly hit the company over time.

Changing hands several times across its lifespan, Rooster Teeth kept afloat despite diminishing returns in a market that began to prioritise short-form video, streaming, and less rigid, large-scale production houses.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXkGtw-Wnig

As it became more accessible for creators to do everything independently on their own terms, there was less obvious necessity for big, large-scale companies with networks of influencers and talent.

For many older Gen Zers, Rooster Teeth represents a particular era of online content.

Toward the end of the noughties and in the early tens, the company was a serious leader in the online content space, particularly within gaming. Its death probably isn’t a surprise to most, but it is a melancholy moment for an era that has all but passed us by.

Editor In Chief London, UK

I’m Charlie (He/Him), the Editor In Chief at Thred. I studied English at the University of Birmingham and as a music and gaming enthusiast, I’m a nerd for pop culture. You can find me curating playlists, designing article headline images, and sipping cider on a Thursday. Follow me on Twitter, LinkedIn and drop me some ideas/feedback via email.

Popular

Keep up with thred by signing up to our planet-positive newsletter!

More from thred.

‘Bionic eye’ solves mystery of Plato’s final resting place
Credit: Thred
Offbeat

‘Bionic eye’ solves mystery of Plato’s final resting place

Italian researcher, Graziano Ranocchia, may have finally solved the mystery of Plato’s final resting place. An AI-powered ‘bionic eye’ scanned a 2,000-year-old carbonised scroll written around 348 BC which pinpointed a specific location in Athens. The mystery of where one of the world’s greatest philosophers rests may have just been solved – by a machine, ironically. The burial of Plato, arguably the most revered of the foundational thinkers of Greek philosophy...

By London, UK
Nature has officially become a musician
Credit: Pexels
Media

Nature has officially become a musician

As part of a new campaign, nature has been recognised as an artist on major streaming platforms, including Spotify. Royalties will go towards supporting climate action initiatives across the globe. Temperatures are rising, habitats are diminishing, and glaciers are melting at an unprecedented rate. As the climate changes, the Earth’s suffering continues to reach new heights, and the reality that we’re running out of time to do something about it becomes...

By London, UK
What is the ‘Dead Internet Theory’ and is it real?
Credit: Thred
Offbeat

What is the ‘Dead Internet Theory’ and is it real?

With the ceaseless growth of AI since 2022, conspiracies surrounding the so-called ‘Dead Internet Theory’ have grown stronger. First thing’s first, though, what the hell is it and does it have any credibility? Is this an online rabbit hole worth getting lost in? Is it pure storm in a teacup? Did a human even write this article? So many questions. If you spend any significant amount of time on Twitter (X)...

By London, UK
What are ‘adult gap years’ and why are they on the rise?
Credit: Unsplash
Offbeat

What are ‘adult gap years’ and why are they on the rise?

Most commonly a pre-uni rite of passage for teens and people in their early 20s, putting everything on hold to travel the world is fast becoming a trend among older generations looking for a break from the relentless nature of life as a grown up. Typically associated with the brink of adulthood, a gap year is a period of development for those with the time and resources to travel, volunteer,...

By London, UK
Accessibility