The History of Rooster Teeth

The History of Rooster Teeth

(Last updated November 3, 2019)
Rooster Teeth’s history began in 1997 with Burnie, Joel, and Matt creating their movie, The Schedule. The actual company was founded on April 1, 2003 and has grown from 5 employees in 2003 to 350 employees in 2019.

I wanted to bring together some important moments in Rooster Teeth history, many of which I believe were foundational in forming the company into what it is today. While I can't hit on every milestone that Rooster Teeth has achieved, I hope that I at least focused on some of the most important ones.

Feel free to download the jpg version of The History of Rooster Teeth or just keep scrolling to the button at the bottom. There’s also a table at the bottom of the page in case you want to CMD+F or CTRL+F for a specific event.

The History of Rooster Teeth
Historical Moment Date
Burnie Burns, Joel Heyman, and Matt Hullum join forces to create The Schedule. Sometime in 1997
DrunkGamers.com is formed by Geoff Ramsey, Gus Sorola, and Burnie. Sometime in 2000
Rooster Teeth releases their first video, the Mac Gamer Switch Parody. Sometime in 2001
The trailer for Red Vs. Blue is created. September 5, 2002
Series premiere of Red Vs. Blue. April 1, 2003
Rooster Teeth is founded by Burnie Burns, Matt Hullum, Gus Sorola, Geoff Ramsey, and Joel Heyman. April 1,2003
Rooster Teeth implements a Subscription-based service. Sometime in 2003
Series premiere of The Strangerhood. November 10, 2004
Series premiere of Sponsor Cut. December 17, 2004
Rooster Teeth moves into the 3-D Buda Office (and out of Burnie's house). Sometime in 2005
Rooster Teeth attends their first Sundance Festival. January 26, 2005
The first RvBTO event is held (a fan event in Toronto). July 2005
Series premiere of P.A.N.I.C.S September 27, 2005
Rooster Teeth comics is released. Sometime in 2006
Rooster Teeth moves to Congress Avenue in downtown Austin. Sometime in 2007
Jack meets Burnie at a poker game. Sometime in 2007
Series premiere of 1-800-MAGIC. June 7, 2007
Episode 100 of Red vs Blue is released, marking the end of the Blood Gulch Chronicles July 19, 2007
Ben King becomes employee #8 Sometime in 2008
Series premiere of Stroyent. June 19, 2008
Achievement Hunter is founded July 6, 2008
Trailer for Red Vs. Blue: Animated is shown at PAX. August 2008
Series premiere of The Drunk Tank. December 9, 2008
Grifball included in Halo 3 Matchmaking. January 8, 2009
Start of live action videos with Captain Dynamic. February 26, 2009
Season 1 of Rooster Teeth Shorts. April 28, 2009
Brandom Farmahini is hired. June 2009
Monty Oum is secretly hired. August 2009
Jack Pattillo hired full-time after previously doing contract work. December 2009
Rooster Teeth moves to the 636 Ralph Ablanedo office. Sometime in 2010
Series premiere of Immersion. April 10, 2010
Kerry Shawcross is hired. May 2010
First RTAA is released (AKA Drunk Tank Animated Adventures). July 2010
Series premiere of Music Videos. September 8, 2010
Chris Demarais is hired November 2010
The Slow Mo Guys is founded by Gavin Free and Daniel Gruchy. November 3, 2010
Roo Teeth community is launched by Caiti Ward in Australia. February 2011
Kara Eberle is hired. Sometime in 2011
Adam Baird is hired. May 2011
Rooster Teeth holds their first RTX in Austin with 500+ attendees. May 27, 2011
Series premiere of the RT Recap. August 12, 2011
Gray Haddock is hired. August 2011
Michael Jones is hired. August 2011
Yvonne Secretan is hired. August 2011
Ryan Haywood is hired. August 2011
Series premiere of RT Life. September 23, 2011
The Drunk Tank podcast is renamed to Rooster Teeth Podcast September 28, 2011
Kyle Taylor lands internship that would eventually lead to a full-time position. September 2011
The first RTOZ is held (a fan event in Australia). October 2011
Rooster Teeth Comics comes to an end. November 2011
Series premiere of Past Cast. November 22, 2011
Series premiere of Nature Town. November 22, 2011
Miles Luna is hired (Employee #19) December 2011
Barbara Dunkelman is hired (assumingly as employee #20). December 2011
Gavin Free is hired. February 2012
Ray Narvaez, Jr. is hired. April 2012
Jon Risinger is hired. August 2012
Series premiere of The Gauntlet, Season 1. November 1, 2012
First Trailer for RWBY is released. November 7, 2012
Nathan Zellner leaves Rooster Teeth. December 2012
Jordan Cwierz hired December 2012
Series premiere of A Simple Walk into Mordor. December 10, 2012
Rooster Teeth acquires The Slow Mo Guys. February 20, 2013
Red vs. Blue becomes an Honoree for the Webby Awards in the Animation Category Sometime in 2013
Patrick Salazar is hired. June 2013
First episode of RWBY is released at RTX July 2013
Adam Ellis is hired. August 2013
Aaron Marquis is hired. August 2013
Josh Flanagan is hired. September 2013
Jack hosts 24-hour live stream for Extra Life, raising $340,000 for hospitalized children. October 25, 2013
Launch of the monthly Rooster Teeth Newsletter November 2013
Blaine Gibson is hired December 13, 2013
Mariel Salcedo is hired. January 2014
Funhaus is founded by Adam Kovic, Bruce Greene, Lawrence Sonntag, James Willems, Sean Poole, and Matt Peake. February 2014
The first RT Community Day is held. February 15, 2014
Rooster Teeth moves to Stage 5 Studios. April 2014
RWBY is a Webby Award Nominee for Online Film & Video in the Animation Category. Sometime in 2014
The Gauntlet Season 2 earns the Webby Awards People's Voice Award in the Reality category. Sometime in 2014
Crowd funding campaign for Lazer Team closes; Raised almost $2.5 million raised. July 6, 2014
Jeremy Dooley and Matt Bragg are hired. July 2014
Series premiere of Happy Hour. July 26, 2014
Series premiere of Social Disorder. September 13, 2014
Series premiere of Minimations. October 8, 2014
Release of Ten Little Roosters. November 4, 2014
Series premiere of Screen Play. November 6, 2014
Series premiere of On The Spot, hosted by Jon Risinger. November 7, 2014
FullScreen acquires Rooster Teeth for an undisclosed amount. November 2014
Series premiere of Xray & Vav. November 27, 2014
Rooster Teeth Games department is formed within Rooster Teeth Sometime in 2015
Cole Gallian hired. Sometime in 2015
Monty Oum passes away. February 1, 2015
Marcus La Porte hired. February 9, 2015
Launch of Let’s Play Live in Austin, TX. February 20, 2015
RWBY is an Honoree in the Webby Awards Animation category. Sometime in 2015
Rooster Teeth Productions becomes an Honoree as an Entertainment Channel from the Webby Awards. Sometime in 2015
Tyler Coe is hired. March 12, 2015
Kara Eberle leaves Rooster Teeth. April 19, 2015
Series premiere of Rooster Teeth Pilots. April 19, 2015
Series premiere of RT Showcase. April 21, 2015
Yssa Badioloa is hired. April 27, 2015
RT Productions becomes an Honoree in Humor from the Webby Awards. Sometime in 2015
Stan Lewis is hired. May 2015
The pilot episode for Million Dollars, But… is released. May 21, 2015
Bethany Feinstein hired. June 2015
Eric Duncan hired June 2015
Website Beta opened to Sponsors. July 2015
First episode of Free Play is released. August 12, 2015
Series premiere of Sportsball. August 25, 2015
Rooster Teeth releases the Rooster Teeth app September 10, 2015
Series premiere of RT Docs with Let's Play Live: The Documentary. September 13, 2015
Series premiere of RT Trailers. September 15, 2015
Series premiere of #RTES. September 24, 2015
The RWBY manga is announced. October 2015
Series premiere of FIRST Member Vlogs. October 18, 2015
Jessica Vasami hired. October 2015
ScrewAttack becomes a division of Rooster Teeth. November 4, 2015
Series premiere of Buff Buddies. November 5, 2015
Series premiere of RT Specials. December 31, 2015
RTX goes upside down to Sydney. January 23 - 24, 2016
Release of Lazer Team. January 27, 2016
Ellie Main is hired. February 2016
Becca Frasier is hired. February 2016
Pilot episode of Fan Service is released. February 19, 2016
The Cow Chop channel is created. February 29, 2016
Mike Quinn is hired. March 2016
The Let's Play Family is founded. March 21, 2016
Mica Burton is hired. May 2016
Rooster Teeth announces their partnership with The Creatures. April 4, 2016
Rooster Teeth partners with Kinda Funny. March 30, 2016
Mica Burton is hired. May 2016
Sophie Turcotte is hired. May 2016
Series premiere of RWBY Chibi. May 14, 2016
First episode of Camp Camp is released. June 17, 2016
Million Dollars, But… the card game is released. June, 2016
First episode of Day 5 is released. June 19, 2016
Sponsor Subscription re-branded as FIRST membership and Double Gold. July 1, 2016
RWBY Grimm Eclipse released on Steam. July 5, 2016
Rooster Teeth hires Luis Medina, Evan Bregman, and Ryan P. Hall July 25, 2016
First episode of Always Open is released to FIRST members September 1, 2016
Series premiere of Crunch Time September 11, 2016
Members of ScrewAttack (Craig Skistimas, Shaun Bolen, Bryan Baker, and Parker Bohon) leave to create Game Attack. October 9, 2016
Website is redesigned with a dark theme, carousel for recent videos, faster load times, and an online search bar so you don't have to leave the page. October 20, 2016
Series premiere of Backwardz Compatible. November 5, 2016
Series premiere of Let Me Clarify. November 5, 2016
Rooster Teeth FIRST App becomes available on Xbox One and Apple TV. November 8, 2016
Nathan Isherwood is hired. December 2016
Pilot episode of Enjoy the Show is released. December 21, 2016
Premiere of The Eleven Little Roosters. January 16th, 2017
Rooster Teeth Games expands into game publishing. January 25, 2017
Series premiere of Burnie Vlogs. January 26, 2017
Series premiere of A Spot of Science. January 29, 2017
Launch of the RT Insider newsletter (a Sponsor only newsletter). February 5, 2017
Bendy and the Ink Machine Chapter One released February 10, 2017
Series premiere of Sex Swing. February 18, 2017
Geoff Ramsey announces his sabbatical from Rooster Teeth and Achievement Hunter (where he also began his journey to sobriety). February 27, 2017
Tinder: The Superhero Movie receives the Webby Awards People's Voice Award. 2017
The World's Greatest Head Massage: an ASMR Journey becomes an Honoree in the Weird category for the Webby Awards 2017
Burnie's Vlog becomes an Honoree in the Best Web Personality/Host category for the Webby Awards. 2017
RWBY becomes an Honoree in the Animation category for the Webby Awards 2017
Launch of FIRST Week March 20, 2017
Series premiere of Relationship Goals. March 21, 2017
Series premiere of Barbara's Vlog. April 19, 2017
Game Attack becomes independent from Rooster Teeth. May 1, 2017
JT Music announces partnership with Rooster Teeth and NoahJ456, LazarBeam, and Steven Suptic join the Let's Play Family. May 31, 2017
David Eddings hired at Rooster Teeth Games. June 2017
First episode of The Lab is released. June 5, 2017
Battlesloths 2025 is released on Steam. June 6, 2017
Rooster Teeth Announces their podcast network, The Roost. June 14, 2017
Criken2 joins the Let's Play Family. July 7 - 9, 2017
The Creatures disband. July 13, 2017
Premiere of Tuesday Night Game Fight. July 19, 2017
The Let's Play Family Reunion. September 24 - 25th, 2017
Wes Ellis hired. October 2017
The first RTX London. October 14, 2017
Series premiere of CRWBY. October 14, 2017
Series premiere of RWBY Rewind. October 18, 2017
Release of Lazer Team 2. November 13, 2017
James Buckley, BedBananas, and Tomato Gaming join the Let's Play Family. November 15, 2017
Series premiere of Master and Apprentice with Marcus LaPorte and Adam Ellis. December 19, 2017
Sugar Pine 7 becomes a division of Rooster Teeth. January 11, 2018
Fullscreen President and former COO, Ezra Cooperstein, is appointed as President of Rooster Teeth. January 26, 2018
Open Beta announced for new website. February 2018
Live from Austin February 19-23, 2018
Series premiere of Nomad of Nowhere. March 16, 2018
Launch of Rooster Teeth TV Beta. March 2018
World Premiere of Blood Fest at SXSW March 2018
Rooster Teeth UK Office is announced, headed by Eric Cherry. April 2018
Pilots released for Branded, Gorq's Quest, Achievement Haunter, Million Dollars, But ... Animated, and Rooster Teeth's Murder Room May 2018
Horror-comedy show Spikeface in collaboration with RCG is announced. May 2018
Fan Service is rebooted on Crunchyroll. July 20, 2018
Aaron Marquis leaves RT. September 2018
Chilled Chaos becomes Let's Play affiliate. September 15, 2018
RT Store goes live for UK. September 27, 2018
Rooster Teeth announces RWBY and Gen:Lock comics through their partnership with DC Comics. October 7, 2018
Series premiere of Game Time (with Burnie). October 12, 2018
Series premiere of The Bungalow with Matt Hullum and Ezra Cooperstein. October 19, 2018
Series premiere of What Do You Know? October 21, 2018
Release of the mobile game RWBY: Amity Arena. October 2018
Rooster Teeth begins shipping RWBY: Combat Ready board game. October 26, 2018
Fullscreen Media is restructured, resulting in Rooster Teeth, Crunchyroll, and VRV being consolidated under the umbrella unit Ellation. December 4, 2018
Tyler Coe leaves Rooster Teeth. December 9, 2018
Stan Lewis leaves Rooster Teeth. December 10, 2018
Premiere of The War on Christmas: a Rooster Teeth Live Holiday Spectacular. December 13, 2018
Rooster announces a partnership with CypherDen and Flashgitz that will bring additional content to the RT site. December 18, 2018
The RT Box is discontinued. January 1, 2019
Rooster Teeth's video game Vicious Circle is announced. January 7, 2019
Series premiere of Gen:Lock. January 26, 2019
Yvonne Secretan becomes Rooster Teeth's first retiree. January 31, 2019
Screw Attack is shutdown and renamed to Death Battle. February 4, 2019
Bethany Feinstein leaves Rooster Teeth February 13, 2019
Inside Gaming is (re)launched. February 14, 2019
Bloodfest is available on RT Site. February 14, 2019
Kinda Funny is added to the RT website. February 20, 2019
Burnie and Ashley announce that they are expecting. March 11, 2019
James announces his depature from Cow Chop. March 18, 2019
Retro Replay, GaLm, Tom Fawkes, and Castle Super Beast join the Let's Play Family. April 23, 2019
Game Attack leaves Rooster Teeth and the Let's Play Family entirely. May 1, 2019
Series premiere of Get Fact! June 14, 2019
Shark Week episode of Immersion premieres. August 3, 2019
Vicious Circle releases on Steam. August 13, 2019
Volume 1 of the RWBY comic is released. August 28, 2019
Bruce Greene announces his departure from Funhaus. September 3, 2019
Premiere of the Clickbait pilot. September 4, 2019
Max Kruemke announces his departure from Rooster Teeth. September 5, 2019
Premiere of Spill the Reali-Tea pilot. September 10, 2019
Rooster Teeth lays off 13% of their staff. September 14, 2019
Ellie Main announces her departure from Rooster Teeth. September 17, 2019
Matt Hullum transitions from Chief Executive Officer to Chief Content Officer. Burnie Burns steps down as Chief Creative Officer for an Executive Producer role. Goeff Ramsey steps away from Achievement Hunter to become the Executive Creative Director. Jordan Levin takes over as General Manager. Barbara Dunkelman becomes the Creative Director for Rooster Teeth. September 24, 2019
Burnie's last RT Podcast. September 30, 2019
Ashley Jenkins/Burns announces she is leaving RT September 30, 2019
Day 5 season 2 is brought back to the RT website. October 8, 2019
Premiere of Good Morning from Hell October 10, 2019
Premiere of the Face Jam podcast. October 11, 2019
Release of the Death Battle game. October 14, 2019
Release of the Rooster Teeth blog. October 14, 2019
Series premiere of Arizona Circle. October 23, 2019
Rooster Teeth Extra Life November 2 and 9, 2019
Pilot episode of Black Box Down November 11, 2019
Pilot episode of Face Jam Podcast November 12, 2019
Series premiere of Chump December 4, 2019
Doreen Copeland promoted to VP, Head of Production, Joe Cleary and Sean Hinz promoted as Co-Heads of Animation December 12, 2019
Lawrence Sonntag announces he's leaving Rooster Teeth December 17, 2019
Becca Frasier leaves Rooster Teeth January 3, 2020
Series premiere of Gary and His Demons January 18, 2020
Haunter Season 2 January 30, 2020
Series premiere of Inside Gaming Features March 10, 2019
Series premiere of We Have Cool Friends June 3, 2019
Series premiere of Morning Haus October 8, 2019
Series premiere of PS I Love You January 7, 2020
Series premiere of Gary and His Demons January 12, 2020
Series premiere of Inside Gaming's podcast, Send News February 8, 2020
Series premiere of Select All February 19, 2020
Series premiere of Hard Mode February 21, 2020
March 5, 2020 - RT Animation reaches 1million YouTube subscribers March 5, 2020
AH Live / Off Topic LA is cancelled due to COVID-19 March 5, 2020
Achievement Hunter 12 hour Live Stream extravaganza March 14, 2020
Series premiere of No Idea with Adam and James March 20, 2020
RT starts working from home due to COVID-19 Sometime in March
Premiere of Anim Jam March 30, 2020
Series premiere of 7 Wonderings April 1, 2020
Series premiere of Keeping the Lights On April 1, 2020
Season 2 of Master & Apprentice April 2, 2020
Front/Back shirt is released April 3, 2020
Series premiere of Black Box Down April 16, 2020
Series premiere of Last Laugh April 20, 2020
Series premiere of F-ing Around with Ify & Fiona April 23, 2020
Series premiere of Roll Initiative April 24, 2020
Series premiere of Hat Films April 24, 2020
Series premiere of Die Is Cast April 26, 2020
Series premiere of Inside Gaming Special April 26, 2020
Series premiere of Technical Difficulties April 27, 2020
GMOD Sandbox added to the RT website April 29, 2020
Series premiere of I Have Notes April 30, 2020
Simon's Peculiar Portions is added to the RT website May 1, 2020
High Rollers: Aerois is added to the RT website May 1, 2020
Triforce is added to the RT website May 4, 2020
The Hat Chat is added to the RT Website May 4, 2020
Series premiere of Screen Time May 14, 2020
YogsCast is added to the RT website May 15, 2020
Series premiere of Talk CRWBY to me May 23, 2020
Series premiere of Co-Op Adventures May 24, 2020
Series premiere of F**k Face with Geoff, Gavin, and Andrew June 3, 2020
Off Topic, an Honest Discussion June 5, 2020
Mariel Salcedo helps raise $100k for multiple bail funds, to justice initiatives, public health initiatives for black mothers, support for black trans folks, and a therapy fund for black women. June 5, 2020
Series Premiere of Hardcore Minigolf June 10, 2020
Burnie Burns announces his departure from Rooster Teeth June 11, 2020
Series premiere of Lord of the Rings: In Review June 19, 2020
Series premiere of Doom Patrol / Doom Talkers June 22, 2020
Rooster Teeth announces that RTX has been cancelled in-person due to COVID-19 June 25, 2020
Series premiere of Death Race July 5, 2020
Series premiere of Recorded by Arizal July 13, 2020
Series premiere of Red Web July 20, 2020
Premiere of Transformers: War for Cybertron on Netfli July 30, 2020
Rooster Teeth removes certain content from their website August 7, 2020
Premiere of RWBY: The Grimm Campaign August 15, 2020
RTX At Home September 15 to 20, 2020
Miles Luna leaves Rooster Teeth September 23, 2020
Premiere of Red vs Blue: Zero October 19, 2020