Achievement Hunter


Achievement Hunter is an American video gaming division of Rooster Teeth Productions. Founded by Geoff Ramsey and Jack Pattillo on July 6, 2008, the website is largely based on the achievement mechanic found in seventh and eighth generation video game consoles. Since its founding, Achievement Hunter has grown to become a core component of Rooster Teeth, hosting a wide variety of videos related to video games. Achievement Hunter videos are currently hosted by six main members: Geoff Ramsey, Jack Pattillo, Gavin Free, Michael Jones, Ryan Haywood, and Jeremy Dooley. While most videos feature these six 'core' members of Achievement Hunter, other staff also make regular appearances.
Achievement Hunter has a large presence on YouTube – where it runs the Achievement Hunter and LetsPlay channels – garnering more than 5.5 million subscribers and 3.1 billion video views.

History and development

2008–10: Inception and growth

In 2008, Geoff Ramsey's interest in gaming achievements resulted in the realization that no community-based website related to achievements existed. Since Ramsey and Burnie Burns, then Rooster Teeth CEO, were both "huge achievement fans" and dueling each other to get the most achievements in their spare time, Ramsey had an idea to begin developing a website where gamers and fans could look up information on how to get specific achievements. Ramsey approached Burns about creating a website based on achievements; Burns agreed, and Ramsey created Achievement Hunter, which shares a similar design to the main Rooster Teeth website. Ramsey later elaborated, saying he had grown tired of making Red vs. Blue and enjoyed working on this new, creative outlet in his spare time. Alongside employee Jack Pattillo, Ramsey regularly released achievement guides and Easter egg videos, often receiving assistance from select volunteers from the Rooster Teeth community. David Dreger also assisted in the founding of the site.

2011–12: Employment growth

In 2011, Achievement Hunter hired Ryan Haywood as an editor and manager; Haywood later began being featured in videos as a host in March 2012, becoming one of the main crew members. Four new shows were introduced to Achievement Hunter in 2011. One of them, Rage Quit, led to the official hiring of Michael Jones as a full-time staff member in August 2011.
In December 2011, Achievement Hunter also began creating Let's Play videos. The success of the videos resulted in a weekly sub-series in 2012, in which the main hosts play Minecraft. Weekly Let's Play videos focusing on Grand Theft Auto games are also released.
Achievement Hunter hired Gavin Free in 2012, after he had assisted with the company for many years. In March 2012, Achievement Hunter debuted Game Night, in which Ramsey and Caleb Denecour play games with community members; the series switched to a live stream format in 2014. Community member Ray Narvaez, Jr. was hired in April 2012, having worked as a contract host for multiple years. Later, in September 2012, contract editor Franco Scarcello created Five Facts, which was generally hosted by Pattillo and Ramsey and focused on little-known facts about various video games; it was not renewed for a sixth season in May 2016.

2013–2015: Popularization

In early 2013, Achievement Hunter introduced a competition series titled VS, in which the employees challenge each other to compete in games. In April 2013, Achievement Hunter launched their own channel on YouTube, which hosts a variety of their videos. Later in 2013, the company retired Achievement HORSE, replacing it with Achievement HUNT, in which a variety of employees challenge each other until the word "HUNT" has been spelled.
In October 2013, Pattillo hosted a 24-hour live stream benefiting Extra Life, a charity benefiting hospitalized children. With appearances from other Achievement Hunter members and various Rooster Teeth employees, the live stream managed to raise $340,000. This charity live stream has become an annual event, with 2014's Extra Life live stream raising over $442,000 for Children's Miracle Network. At RTX in July 2014, community members Matt Bragg and Jeremy Dooley were hired as editors and secondary hosts at Achievement Hunter respectively.
On February 5, 2015, Achievement Hunter officially founded the Let's Play Network YouTube channel. The channel acted as a platform for multiple RoosterTeeth owned and affiliated groups and divisions to upload gameplays. Some of these groups included the likes of Funhaus, ScrewAttack, Cow Chop, Kinda Funny, and Sugar Pine 7. Although, a majority of the channel's videos still consisted of Achievement Hunter's content.
In early 2015, Achievement Hunter hosted the first Let's Play Live at the Moody Theater in Austin, Texas. In April 2015, Narvaez departed from the company as a full-time employee to focus on Twitch live-streaming, although he continued to voice his character for the company's X-Ray and Vav animated series until its eventual cancellation. In mid-2015, Achievement Hunter launched a new YouTube channel, named after themselves, thereon they upload series of videos that were previously uploaded to the Rooster Teeth channel. Additionally, they moved out of Rooster Teeth's Stage 5, Austin Studios office into their own office nearby.
Dooley was promoted to a main host in October 2015, during an episode of Let's Play Minecraft. A weekly podcast titled Off Topic was announced in early October, hosted by Michael Jones. Four test episodes aired live and were only available to "First Members" on their website. The first official episode aired to the public after the initial tests. Jones serves as the main host of the show and makes the most frequent appearances alongside other Achievement Hunter employees and special guests, including Patricia Sommerset, Arin Hanson, and Samm Levine. He also hosts the after show Last Call available for First Members only.
From 2015, Achievement Hunter would feature celebrities as guest collaborators in some of their Let's Play videos such as Watsky, iZombie's Rahul Kohli, Dan Campbell from The Wonder Years, Laura Bailey and Travis Willingham, Dante Basco, James Buckley, Lannan Eacott, and pop punk band Neck Deep.

2016–Present

In April 2016, Achievement Hunter launched two new shows for fans to enjoy. A new series called VR the Champions premiered on YouTube and featured Haywood, Dooley, and other members testing out new gameplay in virtual reality. In addition, a First Member only show known as Theater Mode was created, and includes hosts like Jones, Ramsey, and Pattillo, as well as others, watching horrible movies and commenting on them. Later in 2016, Achievement Hunter introduced RouLet's Play, where hosts play a game at random, Heroes and Halfwits, a sort of dungeons and dragons gameplay with Haywood, Jones, Ramsey, Griffon Ramsey, and Gus Sorola, and Schooled in which Ramsey and his daughter Millie teach kids to play video games in hopes of defeating the main Achievement Hunter members.
In February 2017, Ramsey announced his sabbatical from the company to take a break after many long years of creating and developing Rooster Teeth and Achievement Hunter to what it had become. Later on, two months into his break, Ramsey and Millie premiered the second season of Schooled. This time around the kids were being trained by the main members to battle each other. In April, Achievement Hunter went on tour on the east coast to perform Let's Play Live! with Funhaus in New Jersey, Maryland, and Florida.
As part of Rooster Teeth's Pilot Month, a test episode of a new ghost hunting show called Achievement Haunter premiered on May 17, 2018. The episode was considered a success and the series was green-lit for an eight episode first season, which aired on October 31, 2018.
Hardcore Tabletop, a show that takes board games and gives them real world twists, premiered on August 21, 2018. The first season had Achievement Hunter personalities play Monopoly with real money, with the potential to earn up to $20,580. The second season, titled Hardcore Tabletop: World Series, aired on April 10, 2019 and returned to Monopoly with competitors from the Let's Play family as well as Dante Basco.
The Weird Place, a collaborative series between Achievement Hunter and Meow Wolf, aired on March 13, 2019.

Let's Play Live

Let's Play Live! is an on-stage event produced by Rooster Teeth in which the Achievement Hunter members play video games and perform comedy sketches in front of a live audience. Their first event was held on February 20, 2015, at the Moody Theater in Austin, Texas. On September 14, a behind-the-scenes documentary was released about the event for sponsors on their website.
Three more Let's Play Live! events were held in 2016, with the first at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California on June 17, the second at the Chicago Theatre in Chicago, Illinois on August 19, and the third at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City, New York on October 8. These events also featured appearances by other members of the Let's Play family; Funhaus, ScrewAttack, Kinda Funny, Cow Chop and The Creatures.
In 2017, four Let's Play Live! shows were announced as the East Coast Tour. The tour was held from April 24 to April 30, with them going to the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, New Jersey, the Hippodrome Theatre in Baltimore, Maryland, Hard Rock Live in Orlando, Florida and the Straz Center for the Performing Arts in Tampa, Florida.
One Lets Play Live! show was held in 2018 as part of RTX 2018 at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas on August 2.
In January 2019, Achievement Hunter performed three Let's Play Live! shows in Australia known as AH Live! after Rooster Teeth announced in August 2018 that they would be replacing RTX Sydney 2019 with Let's Play Live!

Charity

With members of Rooster Teeth that work outside of Achievement Hunter, the group works with different charities to raise money through livestreams and other methods. This is in part to Jack Pattillo being a part of Achievement Hunter and Rooster Teeth's Charity Director, causing him to be a large part of organizing events, promoting them on the Achievement Hunter page, and asking fans and friends to be a part of the event. He summed up the point in a statement; "When Rooster Teeth calls on its fans to support a cause, we can count on them to help us make a huge impact."
Through cooperation between Make-A-Wish and the Achievement Hunter parent company Rooster Teeth, the members of Achievement Hunter met teenager Erik Battany during RTX in August 2015. Battany and his family had been gifted VIP passes to RTX 2015, meeting them at a VIP party and the next day played with members for an Assassins Creed: Syndicate mission. On 23 May 2014, there was another visitor through Make-A-Wish, a boy named Jacob.

List of shows

SeriesPrimary contributorSeries premiereSeries finale
Forced EnjoymentGeoff Ramsey, Jack PattilloMarch 25, 2008July 28, 2010
Achievement Guides/Achievement UnlockedVariousJuly 29, 2008Ongoing
PajamachievementsGriffon RamseyDecember 20, 2008September 25, 2009
Easter EggsVariousJuly 14, 2009Ongoing
Achievement Hunter Weekly Update VariousMarch 4, 2010Ongoing
Behind the ScenesVariousMay 5, 2010May 9, 2017
Fails of the WeakGeoff Ramsey, Jack PattilloSeptember 22, 2010May 13, 2016
Achievement HORSE/PIGGeoff Ramsey, Jack PattilloDecember 6, 2010January 2, 2016
Rage QuitMichael JonesJanuary 20, 2011Ongoing
This Is... VariousMarch 29, 2011August 14, 2015
Things to Do In:VariousNovember 30, 2011Ongoing
Let's PlayVariousDecember 7, 2011Ongoing
A Look Back AtBrandon "Fragger" Light; Ray Narvaez, Jr.December 16, 2011August 15, 2012
Game NightGeoff Ramsey, Caleb DenecourMarch 23, 2012February 14, 2014
Trials FilesGeoff Ramsey, Jack PattilloApril 24, 2012November 4, 2014
Retro ActiveBrandon "Fragger" LightMay 30, 2012October 31, 2012
Quick BitsVariousAugust 20, 2012December 17, 2012
Five FactsGeoff Ramsey, Jack Pattillo, Franco ScarcelloSeptember 11, 2012May 17, 2016
Coming SoonKdin JenzenMarch 5, 2013May 1, 2015
Versus VariousMarch 8, 2013January 19, 2017
GO!VariousOctober 29, 2013August 28, 2016
Achievement HUNTVariousOctober 30, 2013May 10, 2016
How To:Joel Heyman, Adam Ellis, Jeremy Dooley, Matt BraggFebruary 6, 2014May 15, 2016
Play PalsMichael Jones, Gavin FreeMay 8, 2014Ongoing
Countdown/Top FiveVariousMay 12, 2014January 5, 2016
Imaginary AchievementsJeremy DooleyAugust 13, 2014April 8, 2015
MegaCraftMatt BraggAugust 18, 2014August 12, 2015
Let's WatchVariousSeptember 18, 2014Ongoing
Grab BagVariousSeptember 25, 2014April 21, 2016
Achievement Hunter vs. The WorldVariousOctober 16, 2014May 8, 2016
Sunday DrivingVariousNovember 6, 2014July 1, 2019
ShenanigansVariousDecember 19, 2014Ongoing
Presented With CommentJeremy Dooley August 1, 2015January 7, 2016
Off Topic PodcastMichael Jones October 30, 2015Ongoing
Great Levels in GamingMax BernardDecember 29, 2015May 30, 2016
VR the ChampionsVariousApril 12, 2016Ongoing
Theater ModeVariousApril 29, 2016Ongoing
Heroes and HalfwitsFrank J. Kim, Geoff Ramsey, Griffon Ramsey, Michael Jones, Gus Sorola, Ryan HaywoodJune 9, 2016Ongoing
RouLetsPlayVariousSeptember 29, 2016Ongoing
SchooledGeoff Ramsey, Millie RamseyOctober 3, 2016May 17, 2017
Between the GamesVariousOctober 11, 2016Ongoing
Battle BuddiesRyan Haywood, Jeremy DooleyMay 9, 2017Ongoing
Chaos CornerLindsay JonesDecember 28, 2017Ongoing
AH AnimatedVariousJanuary 25, 2018Ongoing
Let's RollVariousAugust 19, 2018Ongoing
Hardcore TabletopGeoff Ramsey, Matt Bragg, Jack Pattillo, Michael Jones, Jeremy Dooley, Alfredo Diaz, Ryan Haywood, Lindsay Jones, Elyse WillemsSeptember 21, 2018Ongoing
AHTV VariousMay 2018Ongoing
Achievement HaunterGeoff Ramsey, Gavin Free, Michael Jones, Jeremy Dooley, Ryan Haywood, Jack Patillo, Lindsay JonesOctober 31, 2018Ongoing
Ready Set ShowJeremy Dooley, Trevor CollinsFebruary 25, 2019Ongoing
Face JamMichael Jones, Jordan CwierzOctober 18, 2019Ongoing

Cast and crew

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;Crew
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