Some 150 Rooster Teeth employees, as well as contractors and other creators, are left scrambling after today’s announcement that parent company Warner Bros. Discovery is closing it down after over 20 years in business. The production company created animated web series like Red vs. Blue and RWBY, as well as Max animated series gen:LOCK, which starred noted anime geek Michael B. Jordan.
As reported in Variety, the shutdown was announced at a meeting at Rooster Teeth’s headquarters in Austin, Texas; Warner Bros. had apparently tried to sell Rooster Teeth rather than shutter it, but was unsuccessful. However, certain titles may still live on; according to the trade, “Warner Bros. Discovery is currently in talks to sell the rights to certain Rooster Teeth catalog content and intellectual property [specifically, the three titles mentioned above] … In addition, WBD is seeking to sell the Roost podcast network, with shows spanning gaming, true crime, fandom, comedy and food, which for the time being will continue to operate.”
Founded in 2003, Rooster Teeth cycled through a few corporate owners during its lifetime; it became a Warner Bros. Discovery property two years ago. Variety obtained a memo from Rooster Teeth general manager Jordan Levin, who came aboard in 2019, which praises the company’s legacy as “a source of creativity, laughter, and lasting innovation in the wildly volatile media industry,” but also notes “Rooster Teeth is shutting down due to challenges facing digital media resulting from fundamental shifts in consumer behavior and monetization across platforms, advertising, and patronage.” The memo also promises “while we learn about updates on programming day by day, we will share our plans for shows, franchises, partnerships, and merch soon and share those updates with teams internally and with the community on RoosterTeeth.com.”
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