RJ Writing Ink

My Reaction to the News of Rooster Teeth’s Shutdown

This is the end of an era for the Internet. Rooster Teeth is shutting down and I am NOT OKAY with this!

In the Beginning…

Founded by six men from Texas in April 2003, Rooster Teeth was an overnight success thanks to their popular web series, Red vs Blue. This comedic sci-fi series inspired by and using the Halo franchise proved so popular that Halo’s own creators, Bungie, acknowledged its significance. And RvB was only the start. As the years went by, Rooster Teeth grew and expanded to create even more content. Achievement Hunter, FunHaus, RWBY, and once they merged with Screwattack, Death Battle! all came under Rooster Teeth’s umbrella. They had their own convention, RTX, for several years.

I first discovered Rooster Teeth in my high school/college years when the-then independent Death Battle! pitted Yang from RWBY against Tifa from FF7. It wasn’t until I saw another episode of Death Battle!, this time pitting two characters from Red vs. Blue against each other, though, that I really got into them. I started watching Red vs Blue from start to finish, and eagerly anticipated each new volume of RWBY coming out. By the time I reached my adulthood, I was already a firm fan of Rooster Teeth. Which only made today’s announcement even harder to bear.

RIP Rooster Teeth

Earlier today, news broke on Twitter that Warner Bros was shutting down Rooster Teeth. Various articles have said that the company was no longer profitable, and WB chose to cut its losses. They’re planning on selling shows like RWBY, Gen:LOCK, and even Red vs Blue to potential buyers. But as of this moment, nothing is set in stone. Except for the fact that everyone working at Rooster Teeth is getting laid off.

So Heartbroken

On the one hand, this announcement doesn’t surprise me as much as it should. My interest in Rooster Teeth has waned in recent years, so I didn’t pay attention to some of the controversies surrounding the company. However, even I have to admit that somewhere along the lines, there was a drop in quality. Red vs Blue got hit the hardest, as while I tried to enjoy the more recent seasons, they weren’t as good as season 13 and earlier. My interest in RWBY went to the wayside thanks to the pandemic, so the latest season didn’t have as big an impact as it could have. And I had almost forgotten about Camp Camp and gen:LOCK. At this point, Death Battle was the only show that I had a vested interest in watching.

On the other hand, I can’t help but feel heartbroken at this announcement. I remember going to see sneak previews of new seasons of RWBY in theaters. I was lucky enough to get to meet the cast of RWBY at a convention one year, and the photo op I got with them hangs proudly on my wall.

But more than anything, I’m devastated at what this means for all the talented people who worked at Rooster Teeth. I follow many of them on social media, and the last few hours have seen many of them sharing their thoughts and feelings with fans on Twitter and Instagram. All those people are either out of a job or won’t be making as much money for a while, and they don’t deserve that. Add in the fact that the future of many of Rooster Teeth’s shows is now in doubt, and it feels like my heart’s breaking in two. All I can do right now is pray for their well-being and wait to hear more news.

And if I don’t post about it here, then you can bet that I will have something to say about it on The Game of Nerds or the D&A Anime Blog.