It's April fools day, a day dedicated to pulling practical jokes on family and friends. But 20 years ago, for three friends, it was about founding a company to produce a web series that would not only go on to be award winning, but popularize the use of Machinima. This company is called Rooster Teeth and they're now a billion video view powerhouse. To celebrate this occasion and as an old school fan, In this blog entry, I'm going to tell the story of how it all started.
The Story of Roster Teeth begins in 1997, While attending the University of Texas at Austin, Burnie Burns, Matt Hullum, and Joel Heyman collaborated on a 1997 independent film called The Schedule. Although the film helped Hullum and Heyman to find work in Los Angeles, it had limited success. After the film proved to be unsuccessful, Burns went to work for a a local company named Telenetwork, and met Geoff Ramsey (then named Geoff Fink), Gustavo Sorola, Dan Godwin, and Jason Saldaña. met According to Burns, he met Gustavi "Gus" Sorola one day palying Dead Or Alive 2 on a Sega Dreamcast in the breakroom. He beat him the first round and replied "Im good at video games". Infuriated, Sorola beat him the next round, turned to him with a cold stare, and said "I'm also good at video games!" The five friends formed their own website called drunkgamers.com making game reviews while drunk.
drunkgamers.com (2001)
Meanwhile, Microsoft was taking a bold move to enter the video game console market, with the Xbox on November 15, 2001.
The Xbox (2001)
Along with the system came a Sci-Fi, First person Shooter called Halo: combat evolved.
The cover for Halo: Combat Evolved (2001)
Burns made a voiceover-enhanced gameplay video for drunkgamers.com. Having played Halo: Combat Evolved extensively, one day in 2002, the drunkgamers crew discussed whether the Warthog, an automobile in the game, looks like a puma. Seeing potential for a full story, Burns created a trailer for Red vs. Blue which was released September 5, 2002 on the Drunkgamers website.
The trailer for Red Vs Blue (2002)
Unfortunately it was largely ignored, and drunkgamers soon closed. However, Four months later, Computer Gaming World contacted Ramsey for permission to include a different drunkgamers video in a CD to be distributed with the magazine. Ramsey granted permission, but he and Burns felt that they needed a website to take advantage of the exposure from Computer Gaming World. They therefore resurrected Red vs. Blue and re-released the trailer to coincide with the Computer Gaming World issue. The first episode proper was distubuted on QuickTime and Windows Media Video formats on April 1, 2003, on Slashdot, Penny Arcade, and Fark
The first episode of Red Vs Blue (2002)
It was an immediate success, being downloaded 20,000 times within just 1 day. 6 months later, the series won awards for Best Picture, Best Independent Machinima Film, and Best Writing at the Academy of Machinima Arts & Sciences' 2003 Machinima Film Festival.
This resulted in the creation of a production company, Inspired by one of the insults used in Red Vs Blue, "cockbite", They called the Company Rooster Teeth. Not long after season 2 they were approached by Bungie themselves and made a deal to use Bungie's titles without any licensing fees. By 2004, it was estimated that Red Vs Blue's viewership was generating between 650,000 and 1,000,000 in viewship and was generating almost US$200,000 annually. In 2008, the company diversified with the creation of Achievement Hunter, a website is largely based on the achievement mechanic in video games. That same year Their YouTube channel was established. By 2014, They had relocated to Stage 5 in Austin, and had around 90 employees. Their content was also expanding, Rooster Teeth Animated Adventures (Or RTAA), based on the Rooster Teeth Podcast, debuted in 2010, RWBY debuted in 2013, and their first feature film Lazer Team is released in 2015.
In 2017, The company began participating in Extra Life, a gaming-themed fundraiser with R proceeds going to Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas, raising a total of US$1,209,970.73. The 2018 Extra Life stream raised US$1,417,288, and The 2019 Extra Life stream raised US$1,222,371. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Rooster Teeth shortened the 2020 stream to 12 hours. It raised a total of US$1,163,801 for Dell Children's Medical Center.
Today the company is now part of Warner Bros. and has diversified into Other projects include reality shows, video game development, and even comics. What started as a simple web series, now has led to a the growth of a giant. Happy April Fools Day Everybody!
