Rooster Teeth winds down Red vs. Blue: The Blood Gulch Chronicles

This news is bouncing around numerous gaming sites, but not to post about it here would be a misstep. This past Sunday, Burnie Burns of Rooster Teeth announced that they would conclude their web series, Red vs. Blue: The Blood Gulch Chronicles with Episode 100.

A quote from the above posting by Burnie:

"Producing RvB and getting to know the people who watch it have been two of the greatest joys of my life. That's why we wanted to let you all know first that Episode 100 is going to be the last installment of The Blood Gulch Chronicles. One hundred is a great number, and it seems like the perfect place to call it a show. I am sure you have some questions about our plans for the series and beyond. We will be talking about all of that in the weeks and months to come, but I want to use this time to thank all of you for nearly half a decade of support. For now, it's back to work."

Beginning as what was to be a small six episode mini-series in the spring of 2003, The Blood Gulch Chronicles became the world's first extremely viral Machinima work, which spread like wildfire across the net, knocking out their hosting provider due to the massive amount of file requests. Over time, the series became increasingly popular, sustaining a loyal community that totaled into the hundreds of thousands of viewers - the download counts reaching into the millions on a per episode level. With a consistent delivery of high-quality episodes over the course of 5 seasons, it also allowed 5 friends from Austin, Texas to leave their day jobs in order to make Machinima for a living. Rooster Teeth not only made headlines for making successful Machinima, they also broke ground how to create a successful web-based entertainment brand.

Regardless of whether you were a fan of the series or not, I don't think anyone reading this blog can deny the impact RvB has had on Machinima as a whole. It has undoubtedly introduced more people to the concept of Machinima than any other work to date.

With that, a Hat's Off! to Rooster Teeth for Red vs. Blue: the Blood Gulch Chronicles. It's been a swell ride and we look forward to that Season 5 DVD!

(Full disclosure: I work on a variety of projects with Rooster Teeth Productions).