After over a decade since its predecessor, Grand Theft Auto 6 will finally be released in the fall of 2026. It's been a long wait for fans of the open-world crime game, but Rockstar Games loves to take its time. And that wait hasn't been any easier with so few titles occupying the same space as GTA. A few have tried, but none have come close.
Perhaps the biggest contender to Grand Theft Auto's faith was MindsEyethird-person action-adventure title from Build a Rocket Boy. For many different reasons, many Grand Theft Auto fans thought so MindsEye was supposed to at least be a competitor to GTA, but instead it was an absolute disaster of a release.
Grand Theft Auto 6 should latch on to a feature in GTA 5 that was skipped
Grand Theft Auto 5 never got an increasingly popular console feature, but Rockstar should take another crack at Grand Theft Auto 6.
The MindsEye/Grand Theft Auto the comparison starts at the top, with Leslie Benzies. Benzies was a producer on Grand Theft Auto series, from GTA 3 to Grand Theft Auto 5. Given his pedigree, when Benzies started up Build a Rocket Boy and announced Everywherean MMO/gaming platform, was the expectation he was trying to increase Grand Theft Auto. Within Everywhere, players would experience different districts that captured the gameplay from racing to combat, similar aspects that you can see in any Grand Theft Auto title. It would be mostly user generated, but the potential was there. But first Build a Rocket Boy needed to prove the concept, and thus MindsEye was born.
Like more and more of MindsEye was revealed, the question marks began to appear. First, it was clarified that the game would not be open world, which admittedly was an assumption on the part of the fans, but considering Benzie's previous work was a reasonable assumption. Then there was distancing the game from all GTA connections in interviews with Benzies before the launch. And finally, the lack of early reviews questioned the game's quality. Early review copies are not a guarantee by any means, however when no outlet has access to a game early, it's not a good sign.
MindsEye is, frankly, a half-baked game that the developers tried to save initially but eventually gave up. There's a kernel of a compelling idea in there somewhere MindsEyeand everywhere, but The developers also did not have the resources to deliver on their ambition or the ambition was so great that it was impossible to get anything right.
What initially could have been one Grand Theft Auto the competitor instead was a colossal failure, made even worse by reports from Build a Rocket Boy's developers. There were claims of leadership issues in an open letter from developers, as well as layoffs at the studio after its release. Apparently, the experience of publishing MindsEye was so bad that IO Interactive doubts they will publish another studio's game ever again. MindsEye sits firmly as one of the most disappointing games of 2025and it is unlikely Everywhere will ever see the light of day.
There have been some excellent ones Grand Theft Auto competitors/clones/whatever you want to call them. Saints Row developed a fanbase of its own, but the latest entry tried to reboot the series by taking it in a direction that didn't seem to resonate with fans, and developer Volition was shut down a year later. The True crime The series also had its fair share of fans, but failed to gain a foothold after two entries (one set in New York and one set in LA).
Sleeping dogs, guard dogs, the godfather, driver – There have been quite a few games that have tried to remove even a small percentage of the game Grand Theft Auto fan base. And while some have found success, they haven't had the staying power of Rockstar Games' franchise. With Benzies at the helm, it seemed like MindsEye could have been a game more ambitious than anything GTA ever made, but instead those ambitions got the best of Build a Rocket Boy.
- Released
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November 2026
- ESRB
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Rating pending – likely adult 17+
