MindsEye Studio Build A Rocket Boy Announces More Layoffs

Build A Rocket Boy, the Scotland-based development studio behind last year's disastrous action-adventure game MindsEyehas again announced further redundancies in the company. A new post from MindsEye the studio's CEO, Mark Gerhard, says that another number of layoffs have taken place at Build A Rocket Boy, calling it a “deeply painful decision”, before then claiming that there is overwhelming evidence of organized espionage and corporate sabotage.

With former Rockstar Games president Leslie Benzies at the helm, fans were waiting MindsEye to be a possible challenger to the iconic Grand Theft Auto series. Unfortunately, it didn't quite work out that way. The studio's first title quickly received negative reviews from players and critics alike, with MindsEye even becoming the worst reviewed game of 2025, according to Metacritic. While the latest Steam reviews for the title are now “mostly positive”, likely due to continued support from the remaining staff at Build A Rocket Boy, MindsEye was criticized at launch for its empty world, weak story, and constant bugs and performance issues.

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This failure from 2025 proves that you shouldn't try to compete with Grand Theft Auto

MindsEye's disastrous release shows the challenges of trying to compete with Grand Theft Auto.

Build A Rocket Boy announces more layoffs

After the disastrous launch, Build A Rocket Boy announced layoffs at the studio, which came just days after MindsEyereleased for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and PC. Now, almost a year later, the studio has made a new post on LinkedIn and announced even more layoffs. “In recent years, the games industry has gone through one of the most difficult periods in its history. Many talented developers worldwide have been affected by layoffs and restructuring. Unfortunately, today we have to share that Build A Rocket Boy is not immune to these pressures,” said CEO Mark Gerhard.

The statement goes on to say that Build A Rocket Boy has now announced a further number of redundancies, admitting it is a “deeply painful decision”. Gerhard acknowledges the impact this will have on those affected, before moving on to blame MindsEyes launch on factors beyond the studio's control. The CEO says the studio has been working with outside partners and legal counsel over the past few months to investigate apparent criminal activity that took place around the launch of its first title. According to Gerhard, these findings have now resulted in “overwhelming evidence of organized espionage and corporate sabotage affecting MindsEye.” Further elaboration was not provided, as the CEO says the matter is headed for prosecution, so full details cannot be shared publicly yet.

Back in October 2025, nearly 100 current and former employees released a joint letter criticizing MindsEye studio. The open letter, published by the Independent Workers of Great Britain union, accused the studio of mishandling layoffs and claimed Build A Rocket Boy subjected its employees to four months of mandatory scrimmage, requiring an additional eight hours of overtime per week for all developers. The letter did not threaten any legal action against Build A Rocket Boy, but made a set of demands, which included a public apology for the mistreatment of employees, proper compensation for those who had been affected by the layoffs, meaningful efforts to improve working conditions, and more.

Despite the constant challenges thrown in Build A Rocket Boy's way, those remaining at the studio seem committed to improving MindsEye with continued updates. Last month, the studio announced a “new development phase” for the title after parting ways with publisher IO Interactive. Update 7 then rolled out on all supported platforms, introducing a branding refresh and another step forward in overall polish. According to the official patch notes for the update, it was focused on smoothing out campaign flow, making objectives easier to follow, and continuing to refine AI behavior. There's been no word on whether today's layoffs will affect any further updates too MindsEye.