MindsEye Developer Rocket Boy Begins Layoffs After Troubled Launch

Build A Rocket Boy has informed its employees that a redundancy process is underway following the troubled launch of MindsEye. Sources within the studio have indicated to IGN that these layoffs could impact more than 100 staff members.

An anonymous employee, speaking to IGN to protect their professional standing, stated that the exact number of affected staff is still unknown. However, the standard 45-day consultation period began on June 23, as mandated by UK law when an employer proposes 100 or more redundancies within a 90-day window. IGN understands that Build A Rocket Boy currently employs approximately 300 people in the UK, with an additional 200 based internationally.

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

Employees now face an uncertain waiting period to learn if their positions are at risk. Concurrently, serious questions are emerging regarding Build A Rocket Boy's ability to deliver on its post-launch content roadmap—including the promised multiplayer mode—according to the original schedule.

Last week, Build A Rocket Boy expressed its disappointment regarding the technical problems players encountered with the newly released game. The company committed to releasing a series of updates to address significant performance issues, bugs, and problematic AI behavior. The rollout of these patches is now in progress.

Amid the troubled launch, the developer canceled sponsored streams, and there are reports of players successfully obtaining refunds, even from Sony, which is known for its strict refund policies.

On Steam, which offers only a partial view of the game's current popularity, MindsEye reached a peak concurrent player count of 3,302 at launch. However, its 24-hour peak later dropped to just 130 players. At the time of writing, only 52 individuals 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 led by former Grand Theft Auto design chief Leslie Benzies, often described as a 'Roblox for adults'. Build A Rocket Boy, headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland, eventually pivoted its focus to MindsEye, its story-driven action-adventure game. Unfortunately, the title has so far underperformed commercially.

In an internal email reviewed by IGN, co-CEO Mark Gerhard affirmed the studio's ongoing commitment to MindsEye. He also highlighted the studio's transition from an intensive development and launch period to a more sustainable phase focused on post-launch support.

Ahead of the game's release, Gerhard attracted media attention by alleging a "concerted effort" to "trash the game and the studio," implying 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 issued a public denial of these claims.