MindsEye Studio Begins Layoffs After Disastrous Launch

Build A Rocket Boy has informed its workforce that a redundancy process has commenced following the troubled launch of MindsEye. According to studio sources who spoke to IGN, the layoffs may impact more than 100 employees.

An anonymous source concerned about career repercussions told IGN that the exact number of affected employees is still unclear. However, the standard 45-day consultation period begins today, June 23. Under UK legislation, this process is mandatory when an employer plans to cut 100 or more jobs within a 90-day window. IGN understands that Build A Rocket Boy employs approximately 300 people in the UK, with an additional 200 staff based overseas.

IGN has reached out to Build A Rocket Boy for an official statement.

Employees now face an uncertain wait to learn if their positions are at risk. At the same time, serious questions are emerging about whether Build A Rocket Boy can deliver on its post-launch content roadmap—including the promised multiplayer mode—according to the original schedule.

Last week, Build A Rocket Boy expressed that it was "heartbroken" by the problems players encountered with the newly released title, pledging a series of patches to address performance issues, glitches, and AI behavior problems. The deployment of these updates has already started.

Meanwhile, the rocky launch of MindsEye led the developer to cancel sponsored livestreams, and there are reports of players successfully obtaining refunds—even from Sony, which is typically strict about such requests.

On Steam, which only offers a partial view of the game's current popularity, MindsEye reached a peak concurrent player count of 3,302 at launch. However, the 24-hour peak has since dropped to just 130 players. As this article was published, only 52 people were playing on Steam, and the game has received a "Mostly Negative" user review rating.

MindsEye was originally part of Everywhere, an adult-oriented game creation platform often described as "Roblox for adults," headed by former Grand Theft Auto design lead Leslie Benzies. The Edinburgh-based Build A Rocket Boy eventually shifted its focus to MindsEye, a story-driven action-adventure game, but so far the title has failed to achieve commercial success for the company.

In an internal email reviewed by IGN, co-CEO Mark Gerhard affirmed the studio's continued commitment to MindsEye. However, he indicated a transition from an intense development and launch period to a more sustainable post-launch support phase.

Ahead of the game's release, Gerhard made headlines by alleging a "concerted effort" to "trash the game and the studio," suggesting that individuals were being paid or using spam bots to post negative reviews. The head of publisher IO Interactive, known for the Hitman series, later denied these claims.