MindsEye Developers Sign Open Letter Against Build A Rocket Boy Leadership After Launch Collapse

Developers behind the troubled action game MindsEye have publicly accused Build A Rocket Boy (BARB) executives of “longstanding disrespect and mistreatment” in a signed open letter that surfaced following the game’s disastrous launch earlier this year.

A total of 93 current and former employees joined forces with the Game Workers Branch of the Independent Workers of Great Britain (IWGB) to demand accountability from BARB leadership. The developers claim the company’s poor management and disregard for staff input directly contributed to what they describe as one of the worst video game launches of the decade.

According to the letter, the fallout from MindsEye’s release has already resulted in between 250 and 300 layoffs across the company. Build A Rocket Boy previously confirmed a redundancy process, but employees allege the process was “mishandled,” leaving many uncertain about their employment status and compensation.

“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 open letter states.

The developers’ complaints go beyond layoffs. They accuse BARB’s leadership of poor communication, extreme overtime demands, and a lack of structure during development. In the four months before launch, every employee was reportedly required to complete an additional eight hours of mandatory overtime each week. Although the company allowed time off in lieu, at a rate of seven hours for every eight worked, many staff members said they were never able to take that time due to “continued requests for extra high-priority work.”

“Information has been sparse and vague, with you often making radical changes to the way we worked with little or no input from those affected,” reads another section of the letter.

The employees also criticized BARB’s handling of redundancies, alleging that staff received misinformation, incorrect dismissal notices, and even performance reviews conducted by the wrong managers. They argue that these missteps may have led to wrongful dismissals.

“Our experience at the company has been one of burnout, job insecurity, health issues, and the failure of a game that many of us have put years of our lives into. BARB needs to change. CEOs need to take a backseat and allow the skilled people who remain at the company to forge the path ahead,” the letter continues.

The signatories outlined several specific demands to Build A Rocket Boy’s leadership: a public apology and compensation for laid-off employees, the right for current staff on redundancy notice to choose between working their notice or receiving payment in lieu, and a documented commitment to improving working conditions. They also called for official recognition of the IWGB as a trade union and for future layoffs to be handled through independent external partners to prevent further mistreatment.

“Mark Gerhard and Leslie Benzies, you often refer to your employees as ‘family’. But we ask you to consider: is this really how you treat your own?” the letter concludes.

IWGB representatives have also spoken publicly in support of the developers.

“The treatment that workers at Build A Rocket Boy have been facing in the past 12 months has been shocking,” said IWGB Game Workers chairperson Spring Mcparlin Jones. “They have been routinely belittled, cheated, and manipulated by the company they dedicated years of their lives to.”

“What we’ve seen at Build A Rocket Boy is the continued normalisation of millionaire executives scapegoating workers for their own mismanagement and profiteering,” added Scott Alsworth, IWGB Game Workers PR officer. “The sorry financial state the studio now finds itself in is not the work of outside forces or some fifth column of angry trade unionists; it’s the unequivocal result of poor leadership, high-level incompetence, and outright contempt.”

Former employees have also spoken out. Isaac Hudd said BARB showed “little regard for the well-being of its staff,” pointing to a “pattern of poor decisions from senior management.” Another ex-employee, Ben Newbon, described a “callous” environment long before the launch.

“Even before the disastrous launch of MindsEye, staff had suffered months of crunch, resulting in some horrific mental and even physical illnesses,” said Newbon. “Studio leadership have chosen not to take responsibility for the game’s failure and instead blamed saboteurs, as if individual employees or online influencers could have caused this.”

His comments reference BARB co-CEO Mark Gerhard’s earlier claim that negative reactions to MindsEye were part of a “concerted effort” to discredit the studio.

MindsEye was intended to be the flagship release for Build A Rocket Boy, a studio co-founded by former Rockstar North president Leslie Benzies. The game was promoted as an ambitious action title tied to the studio’s user-generated metaverse project, Everywhere.

Following the poor launch and subsequent layoffs, BARB now faces growing internal and public pressure to address its workplace practices and leadership approach. The open letter marks one of the largest coordinated employee actions in the UK gaming industry this year.