93 MindsEye Developers Accuse Build a Rocket Boy Leadership of Mismanagement in Open Letter
The fallout from MindsEye’s disastrous launch continues to deepen as 93 current and former developers from Build a Rocket Boy (BARB) have publicly condemned the studio’s leadership in an open letter, accusing executives of mistreatment, poor management, and failure to listen to their staff.
Once one of the most anticipated games of 2025, MindsEye - the debut project from Build a Rocket Boy, led by former Grand Theft Auto producer Leslie Benzies and Mark Gerhard - has become one of the year’s most criticized releases. With dismal Metacritic scores, the game is widely viewed as one of 2025’s biggest flops.
In the weeks surrounding the launch, reports surfaced of major internal turmoil at the studio. Early previews were negative, the launch trailer failed to impress, and two chief executives left the company just before release. Copies leaked early, revealing severe technical issues, while the promised day-one patch failed to deliver the fixes that players were told to expect. MindsEye’s disastrous debut even led to PlayStation offering refunds, while Build a Rocket Boy issued an apologetic statement saying it was “heartbroken” over the launch.
Despite the backlash, Leslie Benzies blamed the game’s poor reception on “internal and external saboteurs,” a claim he had previously made when negative previews began surfacing (Eurogamer report). However, as mass layoffs hit the company and rumors circulated that publisher IO Interactive might withdraw from game publishing entirely, developers have now placed responsibility squarely on Build a Rocket Boy’s executives.
In an open letter published by the Game Workers Branch of the Independent Workers of Great Britain (IWGB), 93 current and former employees accused leadership of “longstanding disrespect and mistreatment” of staff, claiming that the company’s collapse was preventable.
“For years, you have expected them to adapt to your every whim, with those in disagreement being shut down or cast aside,” the letter states. “We estimate a UK-majority of the 250–300 workers across the company have now lost their livelihoods. These layoffs happened because you repeatedly refused to listen to your workforce’s years of experience, resulting in one of the worst video game launches this decade.”
The developers cited three major failures:
Lack of transparency and communication
Unbearable levels of overtime
Disastrous handling of redundancies
The letter goes on to describe a workplace marked by “burnout, job insecurity, and health issues,” and calls for Build a Rocket Boy’s leadership to “take a backseat and allow the skilled people who remain at the company to forge the path ahead.”
The group also issued four formal demands to the studio’s leadership:
A public apology and fair compensation for laid-off staff.
The right for remaining employees on redundancy notice to choose between working their notice period or taking Payment in Lieu of Notice (PILON).
A documented commitment to improving workplace conditions, including the acknowledgment of the IWGB as a legitimate trade union.
A promise to use external partners for any future layoffs to ensure fairness and accountability.
The letter closes with a pointed message to Benzies and Gerhard:
“You often refer to your employees as ‘family.’ But we ask you to consider; is this really how you treat your own?”
Back when Build a Rocket Boy was founded, its leadership secured $110 million in funding to develop MindsEye and its ambitious open-world platform Everywhere. With Benzies’ name attached, expectations were high that the studio would become a new creative powerhouse.
Now, after months of controversy, broken promises, and public outcry, MindsEye stands as one of the biggest cautionary tales in modern game development. Unless Build a Rocket Boy drastically restructures its leadership and restores trust among its workers, it risks becoming another failed studio lost to its own ambition.
What are your thoughts on the open letter from Build a Rocket Boy developers? Do you think the studio can recover from MindsEye’s collapse, or is this the end for Leslie Benzies’ new venture?
