To say MindsEye suffered from a rocky launch would be a bit of an understatement. A release plagued by a poor critical reception, refunds to players who purchased it, and subsequent layoffs, developer Build a Rocket Boy’s debut game garnered its fair share of negative headlines.
But there was once a time when there was something to be excited about when it came to MindsEye, so much so that IOI Partners — the publishing arm of Hitman and 007 First Light studio IO Interactive — saw enough promise in it to distribute the game.
“The initial talks we had with those guys were to support them”, Hakan Abrak, CEO of IOI, told IGN. “We thought they had some great ideas and a great world in the background that they were building, and hopefully they’ll get the opportunity to show more of that in the future. And we just wanted to help them distribute the game.”
At some point along the road, though, the development of MindsEye clearly did not go exactly to plan, and ultimately ended in that negativity-laced launch. For IOI Partners, it obviously isn’t what it wanted to see happen after attaching itself to the Leslie Benzies-helmed project.
“Well, that was definitely tough, right?”, Abrak confirmed. “It was a tough reception. It wasn’t what they hoped for, and also what we didn’t hope for at IOI Partners. They’re working hard on turning that around to regain the trust of the gamers out there, and they have tons of potential and content they’re working on. So hopefully they’ll succeed with that in the future.”
Soon after MindsEye launched, BARB said it was “heartbroken” over the issues players had faced with the game, and promised to release a series of patches to fix the significant performance problems, glitches, and AI behavior bugs. Rollout of these patches has begun.
Story-driven action adventure game MindsEye was initially designed to be a part of Everywhere, the ‘Roblox for adults’ creation platform led by former Grand Theft Auto design chief Leslie Benzies. BARB eventually switched to focus on MindsEye, but it has so-far failed to do the business for the company.
In July, BARB sources told IGN that Benzies finally addressed staff following the release of MindsEye in a brief video call. According to two people present who asked not to be named in order to protect their careers, Benzies insisted BARB would bounce back and relaunch MindsEye, blaming the studio and the game’s struggles on internal and external saboteurs, among other things.
The future of MindsEye and Build a Rocket Boy remains uncertain. But what about IOI Partners and its appetite to publish more games not made inside the Danish studio’s walls? IOI Interactive will self-publish the upcoming James Bond adventure 007 First Light, but can we expect more partnerships along the lines of the one made with MindsEye, or has this launch left a bad taste in the mouth?
“So, IO Interactive will publish our own games internally,” Abrak confirmed. “IOI Partners? That remains to be seen.”
You can read about how Daniel Craig’s face was put into a Hitman map in order to secure the Bond rights here. You can also check out how Queen Elizabeth II’s passing affected First Light’s development, and our story about the casting of IO’s new James Bond here.
For much more on 007 First Light, make sure to read my extensive preview full of gameplay and story details.
Simon Cardy is a Senior Editor at IGN who can mainly be found skulking around open world games, indulging in Korean cinema, or despairing at the state of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets. Follow him on Bluesky at @cardy.bsky.social.
