MindsEye studio announces more layoffs as CEO cites ‘organised espionage’ and ‘criminal sabotage’
The Build a Rocket Boy head says it’s investigating “criminal activity”
MindsEye studio Build a Rocket Boy has announced that it will be laying off more staff, as its CEO suggested “criminal activity” played a part in the game’s downfall.
In a statement on the studio’s official LinkedIn page, CEO Mark Gerhard announced that more staff are being made redundant.
“Over the past few years, the games industry has gone through one of the most difficult periods in its history,” Gerhard wrote. “Many talented developers across the world have been affected by layoffs and restructuring. Unfortunately, today we have to share that Build A Rocket Boy is not immune to those pressures.
“Today we are announcing a further number of redundancies at the studio. This is a deeply painful decision. The people leaving our team have invested enormous talent, passion and long hours into building what we believe in. Letting colleagues go is never something any leader wants to do, and I know the impact this will have on individuals, families and our wider community.
“As leaders we take responsibility for the outcomes of our projects and the decisions that follow. At the same time, the launch period was affected by factors beyond normal operational challenges and a competitive environment.”
Gerhard then suggested that one of the main reasons behind MindsEye’s commercial failure was “criminal activity” including espionage and sabotage.
“Over the past months we have been working with external partners and legal advisors to investigate the criminal activity that took place around our launch,” he wrote.
“That work has taken far longer than expected, but it has now resulted in overwhelming evidence of organised espionage and corporate sabotage affecting MindsEye. Because this matter is moving toward prosecution, we cannot share the full details publicly yet.
“While the investigation has progressed, the team has worked relentlessly to evolve the game and to serve our players. I am incredibly proud of the dedication and resilience our developers have shown. However, the prolonged impact of the difficult launch means that we still had to take the brutal and heartbreaking step of reducing the size of the studio once again to ensure the long-term future of the company and the projects we continue to build.
“To everyone affected – thank you. Your work and creativity helped shape this studio and we will do everything we can to support you in finding your next opportunity. My thoughts today are first and foremost with the people leaving the team. We will also be sharing details of affected team members with communities that actively support developers during transitions, to help connect people with new opportunities.”
Reaction to the studio’s latest statement has been generally negative, with many developers on LinkedIn criticising it for suggesting the layoffs were down to external forces rather than internal management and the quality of the product.
“Incredibly rude to announce layoffs alongside this conspiracy theory,” one environmental artist wrote. “I hope these people go on to better and greener pastures.”
“Respectfully, the people you’re casting off deserve much better than to have their layoffs announced alongside whatever this conspiracy is,” added a manager at another studio. “These are people, this is their livelihood and your post is disrespectful to their contributions.”
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However, former platform engineer Jordan Rey also commented, alleging that they experienced “criminal activity” from external sources while working there.
“I was working at BARB and was implied with Web and Discord related stuff (Discord account linking, official server bot),” they wrote. “I was myself targeted by a group of people that made a secret Discord server to dox and insult BARB.
“This went as far as SWATing my personal home in France. Even through I know BARB is not fully transparent on MindsEye launch, I know for a fact that criminal activity [took] place to target BARB.”
The release of MindsEye last June was followed by social media being flooded with videos of the game’s technical issues and bugs. The situation deteriorated to the extent that PlayStation started refunding multiple players, a rare occurrence that previously took place during the troubled launch of Cyberpunk 2077, before it was pulled from sale entirely.
The game’s Metacritic score currently stands at 38 for the PC version and just 28 for the PS5 version, making it the lowest rated game on Metacritic in 2025.
