MindsEye studio staff takes legal action, saying management installed ‘invasive’ surveillance software
Unionised Build a Rocket Boy employees say the software violated their data privacy
A group of employees at MindsEye studio Built a Rocket Boy have started legal proceedings against management over alleged data privacy violations.
As reported by Game Developer, the staff – led by members of the IWGB Game Workers Union – claim that management installed surveillance software called Teramind onto their hardware, and weren’t transparent about what data it was storing.
The union says the Teramind software was removed from employee devices in March, following a collective grievance against the company was signed by 40 employees.
It’s alleged, however, that management refuses to disclose what data was collected from the employees and how that data was stored, as well as the reason for its installation in the first place.
Teramind’s official website says the AI-powered software “enables proactive protection against insider threats, data breaches, productivity inefficiencies, and compliance challenges”.
Build a Rocket Boy CEO Mark Gerhard has previously claimed that “organised espionage and corporate sabotage” were among the main reasons for the poor launch suffered by MindsEye, which was the lowest rated game on Metacritic last year with a score of 39 on PC and 28 on PS5.
In a statement about the legal action, the IWGB Workers Union said it “alleges that BARB’s use of the software violates both data protection laws and the workforce’s basic dignity, exceeding the legitimate remit of monitoring workers’ productivity or safeguarding the company’s security by recording individuals in their homes and without their consent”.
“In an internal meeting which was leaked to the press, bosses Mark Gerhard and Leslie Benzies confirmed that the software Teramind had been installed without workers’ knowledge,” it added. “The programme tracks users’ key strokes, records screen activity and captures microphone audio.”
This is the second instance of the IWGB filing legal action against Build a Rocket Boy – the first was announced in October 2025, where it accused the studio of “failure to carry out fair consultation ahead of redundancies as well as multiple cases of unfair dismissal”, estimating that “a UK majority of 250-300 workers across the company” had been laid off.
In an interview with GamesBeat earlier this month, Gerhard claimed there had been an orchestrated campaign against the company and that authorities were now looking into it.
“We’ve got very strong evidence of this and conducted quite thorough investigations over the months since launch,” he said. “We’ve identified parties involved, and it’s now with the authorities both UK and US to deal with. I can confirm that they’re assisting us with this investigation, but it’s also in their hands now.
Gerhard also stated that an upcoming MindsEye update will add a new mission called Blacklist, which will supposedly provide evidence of these alleged acts.
