Mindseye studio slammed by 93 current and ex-devs for causing "pain and stress"

93 current and former developers that worked at Mindseye studio Build A Rocket Boy have penned an open letter demanding change at the company. Criticizing management, the handling of layoffs, and high levels of overtime, the letter also directly calls on Leslie Benzies (who previously worked on the GTA games at Rockstar) and Mark Gerhard (formerly the CEO of Runescape studio Jagex) to reflect on "how you treat your own." Through a union, the group of ex-BARB devs are also filing "legal claims" against the company.

Mindseye is one of the most high-profile videogame flops of recent years. Build A Rocket Boy hoped that it would be an explosive, high-quality stepping stone towards its ambitious, UGC-powered experience, Everywhere. However, due to mediocre gameplay and a mountain of performance issues, the action sandbox game struggled massively and remains among 2025's worst-reviewed games.

Following Mindseye's infamous launch, BARB began a redundancy process to cut down the studio's headcount. The open letter, collated and posted by the IWGB Game Workers Union, estimates that 250 to 300 developers have been laid off from the company. The employees that remain have pushed out some small updates for Mindseye, but recently its planned collaboration with the Hitman series was postponed until "the time is right."

This letter, penned by both former and current BARB developers, aims to address and remedy "longstanding disrespect and mistreatment" towards staff. It blames studio management for the poor performance of the game and the resulting layoffs, and says that the redundancy process was completely mishandled. "We believe you have consistently mishandled the redundancy process, causing confusion and distress for all staff," it alleges. "Employees have received misinformation, been handed dismissal notices with the wrong notice periods, and been put in the wrong teams so that their performances were scored by the wrong people. These and other errors have potentially resulted in the wrongful dismissal of dozens of staff members."

The letter also calls out "unbearable levels of overtime" and a "lack of transparency and communication."

In a post on social media, the IWGB says it is now helping the group of employees take legal action against BARB. However, in the letter, it also lays out four demands for the studio's leadership to carry out.

"A public apology for this mistreatment of employees and proper compensation for laid-off employees; The option for remaining employees on redundancy notice to either work their notice period or take Payment in Lieu of Notice (PILON); A concerted, meaningful, and documented effort to improve conditions and processes within the company, including the acknowledgement of the IWGB as a trade union; A commitment to use official external partners to action any future redundancies and prevent unfair treatment."

It ends the letter by directly addressing Gerhard and Benzies: "you often refer to your employees as 'family'. But we ask you to consider; is this really how you treat your own?"

PCGamesN has contacted Build A Rocket Boy for comment.