What was once gone now seems to be in the process of being revived as Rooster Teeth–the production company behind popular animated web series such as Red vs. Blue and RWBY–has announced its comeback after being shuttered in 2024.
After nine months of social media silence announcing the end of its 21-year run, the official Rooster Teeth X/Twitter account showed signs of life to the surprise of its 859,000 followers in typical RT fashion with a tweet that read, “butts.” In a press release on its official web page, founder Burnie Burns—who departed from the company in 2020—announced he acquired Rooster Teeth’s remaining assets under his independent production company, Box Canyon Productions.
The new landing page for Rooster Teeth, which now reads “under new management,” is accompanied by a video titled “Homecoming. ” In it, Burns returns to the Austin-based company’s studio, jokingly claiming to have returned from buying milk while wondering where everyone went.
In March 2024, Warner Bros. Discovery announced it was shuttering Rooster Teeth after acquiring it in 2022. According to Variety, WBD attempted to sell Rooster Teeth but was unsuccessful, leading 150 employees, contractors, and employees to determine the next steps following the company’s closure. Before its shuttering, Rooster Teeth amassed 30 million subscribers on YouTube.
“I am excited at the challenge of bringing Rooster Teeth back to its roots,” Burns wrote in a press release. “The heart of this brand has always been its fans, and I look forward to writing a new chapter together.”
He continued: “There is a lot of work to do around here before our re-launch. In the meantime, I hope that you will join me in welcoming back a brand that has been so important to so many people.”
Toward the end of his announcement, Burnie encouraged fans to listen to the February 5th episode of the Morning Somewhere podcast to learn more about the company’s re-launch.
Founded in 2003, Rooster Teeth started as a web series for the machinima Halo series Red vs. Blue before becoming one of the first early YouTube-era production companies to create a direct-to-consumer website with its original content, such as Camp Camp and the Michael B. Jordan lead Max animated series, gen:Lock.
“With Burns back at the helm, fans can anticipate a renewed dedication to Rooster Teeth’s original mission: to entertain, inspire, and connect,” Rooster Teeth wrote in its press release.
One thing to note in Rooster Teeth’s press release stressing that it has acquired the company’s remaining assets is that its beloved action-sci-fi anime series, RWBY, might not be part of said package. Following Rooster Teeth’s closure, manga and anime publisher Viz Media announced it would pick up the flagship series and explore “the production of new chapters in the RWBY saga.” io9 reached out to Rooster Teeth to inquire about whether RWBY‘s return would be under a joint production between itself and Viz Media.
Regardless, Rooster Teeth’s revival is a shimmer of light from an otherwise bleak trend of personality-driven companies like G4 TV getting canceled (again) and a wide berth of video game developers waking up to layoffs. Hopefully, Rooster Teeth’s comeback will bring back the many personalities that made the company a unique and formative entertainment and variety show for its fans.
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