Not only that. But it also means that WB saw absolutely no value in their I.Ps including RWBY.
Think DC comics. After their DCEU movies started to fail they simply gave them to someone else. Yet with RWBY they didn't hesitate to sell it.
And let's not forget RT did license RWBY to several gatcha slop game companies, made some of them themselves, sold videogames, merchandise, and RT was still bleeding money. I am guessing RWBY did have a a huge steady cash flow when it was at it's prime of internet popularity. But it stopped being profitable around volume 6.
They probably saw value in RWBY, but that's almost it. They even did DC x RWBY crossovers and managed to successfully sell the I.P to Viz.
RoosterTeeth is saddled with a lot of garbage though. Camp camp and Gen:Lock are completely worthless and RvB has value but it's unlikely that Microsoft would let anyone who purchased RVB capitalize on it very much either.
I don't think that RoosterTeeth was ever flush with cash, but probably got a few people to invest (namely Warner Brothers) based on what RWBY could be and not what it would up actually being. Once they had production issues and the quality fell off (again) - the writing was likely on the wall. It showed potential and wasted it, even with WB actually helping to push it.
TBH, my interpretation of that was that it was a Hail Mary. Use popular product to try to boost an struggling I.P. it's a trick as old as the industry.
I do concur that RWBY was likely their most profitable I.P (except maybe RvB), and that WB thought it could be a huge asset.
Tough the fact they did gave up on it shows that something made it change their minds of it being worth the trouble. All evidence points out that Late RT RWBY was failing really hard. Otherwise why sell an I.P worth millions for pennies (by company standards)? Because it wasn't.
I do think RvB and RWBY at their primer were paying their bills. But there was a decline and that's when WB started looking for buyers.
I think RVB paid the bills. It was much more successful and cost drastically less to produce.
RWBY was the start of them "investing". They hired some professional VAs and really (allegedly) went nuts on animation - with it costing $30,000 per minute, making it one of the most expensive animes of all time. On top of that - they were trying to self-monetize by hosing the videos themselves with various membership plans, ultimately causing their own destruction.
RvB was more successful and cheaper to produce, but it had a huge drawback: they couldn’t merchandise or license it with absolute freedom. I’m aware they bent the rules here and there, but the fact of the matter is that RvB was using Halo assets, which belong to Microsoft.
RvB is basically Halo fanfiction (yes, very loosely, but still fanfiction nonetheless). So, if anything, it’s a miracle they could monetize it at all. They were only tolerated because they somewhat helped promote their halo games.
Now, RWBY—that they did merchandise the hell out of. There were at least two Chinese gacha slop games that licensed it, for one. It was also licensed for two mid-tier games: BlazBlue and Smite. Cash had to be flowing when it was in its prime. Not enough to put them in the big leagues, but just enough to pay their bills, for sure. Their mistake was thinking that would last forever.
Person who hates everything that made RT popular left because he was soulless and knew nothing about the things people liked. Good riddance. People who drove RT into the ground at least tried to keep the old flame alight.
