Warner Bros. shuts down Rooster Teeth after 21 years

Deadline reports media company Rooster Teeth is being shut down by parent company Warner Bros.

The studio behind the animated series Red vs. Blue and RWBY will be closed over the next several months. In a company email, general manager Jordan Levin attributed it to digital media "challenges" such as "fundamental shifts in consumer behavior and monetization."

Rooster Teeth's closure comes amid WB's larger cost-cutting measures, such as canceling movies. Just yesterday, it announced plans to delist Small Radios Big Televisions from Fire Face Corporation.

Warner Bros. is said to be "exploring options" for Rooster Teeth's various properties. An animated Rooster Teeth-made film will be be distributed by WB, and other branded material will stay with the parent company.

Per Levin, the in-progress final season of Red vs. Blue will be the studio's final output before its closure.

Rooster Teeth's troubled, 21-year history

Founded in 2003, Rooster Teeth became one of the biggest companies in the early digital media landscape. Its Red vs. Blue videos were synonymous with the Halo games, to the point the company made commercials for whichever new entry was out at the time.

The release of RWBY in 2013 marked its first non-game original property. That series, created by the late Monty Oum, eventually spun into its own multimedia brand.

Rooster Teeth went through several owners during its lifetime before WB acquired it through AT&T. In 2022, several ex-employees came forward about the studio's reportedly toxic culture.

Former staff claimed Rooster Teeth had longstanding issues around harassment and low pay. Crunch was also a recurring part of production on its various live-action and animated projects.

In response to those allegations, Rooster Teeth later said staff members responsible "acknowledged personal responsibility for their actions both internally and externally."

"As we mature in our 20th year," it said at the time, "we will continue to move forward together as a passionate, creative company and community with open hearts and minds."