Former GTA Boss Benzies Contacts 300 MindsEye UK Staff

Build A Rocket Boy, the Edinburgh-based developer of MindsEye, has notified its roughly 300 UK employees of potential job cuts following the game's troubled release.

Sources with knowledge of the situation told IGN that similar at-risk notifications were sent to staff at PlayFusion, which BARB acquired in late 2024. PlayFusion, whose CEO Mark Gerhard became co-CEO of BARB as part of the deal, is developing a separate project—a fast-paced FPS titled Ascendant, originally slated for release this year.

Last month, IGN reported that BARB had initiated redundancy procedures after MindsEye's launch. The mandatory 45-day consultation period began on June 23, a process required under UK law when an employer plans 100 or more redundancies within a 90-day window. IGN understands Build A Rocket Boy currently employs around 300 people in the UK, with a further 200 staff located internationally.

At that time, BARB released a statement confirming the redundancy process, stating the restructuring would allow the studio to "focus on delivering ongoing updates and performance optimization for MindsEye, while also ensuring the long-term success of Build A Rocket Boy’s future ambitions."

Shortly after MindsEye's launch, BARB expressed being "heartbroken" over the issues players encountered and pledged a series of patches to address significant performance problems, glitches, and AI behavior bugs. The deployment of these patches is now underway.

Amid the troubled launch, the developer canceled sponsored streams, and reports emerged online of players successfully obtaining refunds, even from typically strict platforms like Sony.

On Steam—which does not represent the full scope of MindsEye's player base—the game reached a peak concurrent player count of 3,302 at launch, but its 24-hour peak recently stood at just 46 players. At the time of writing, 26 people were playing on Steam, where the game holds a 'mostly negative' user review rating.

The story-driven action-adventure game MindsEye was initially conceived as part of Everywhere, an adult-oriented creation platform led by former Grand Theft Auto design chief Leslie Benzies, often described as a 'Roblox for adults.' BARB later shifted its focus solely to MindsEye, but the title has so far failed to meet commercial expectations for the company.

Meanwhile, BARB sources informed IGN that Benzies finally addressed staff in a brief video call on July 2, following the game's release. According to two individuals present who requested anonymity to protect their careers, Benzies insisted BARB would recover and relaunch MindsEye, attributing the studio's and game's difficulties partly to internal and external saboteurs, among other factors.

These remarks evoke memories of statements made by co-CEO Mark Gerhard prior to MindsEye's release. Gerhard made headlines by claiming there was a "concerted effort" by certain parties to "trash the game and the studio," suggesting individuals were being paid or using spam bots to post negative comments. The CEO of publisher IO Interactive, developer of the Hitman series, later issued a denial of these allegations.

BARB sources told IGN that internally, there is hope for a MindsEye redemption story that would ultimately lead to success for the studio. However, as employees await news on their job security, serious doubts remain about whether BARB can deliver on its post-launch content roadmap—including the promised multiplayer mode—according to schedule.

Earlier this week, BARB released the third post-launch update for MindsEye on consoles, with a PC version to follow. "We've analyzed hundreds of hours of gameplay footage and reviewed player feedback from multiple channels to prioritize the most critical issues and enhance the experience for all our console players," the studio stated.