More than 90 staff who worked on this year’s blockbuster flop MindsEye have sent a searing open letter to the company’s management calling for change, after “one of the worst video game launches this decade.”
The letter states that between 250 and 300 staff have now lost their jobs due to MindsEye’s failure, something which is blamed squarely on the decisions of company bosses. There’s strong criticism, too, of the way layoffs were handled, with the suggestion that misinformation may have lead to the “wrongful dismissal of dozens of staff members.”
Today’s letter, published through UK game development worker union IWGB, calls on MindsEye developer Build a Rocket Boy, and specifically its founder Leslie Benzies and co-CEO Mark Gerhard, to apologise for the “mistreatment” of staff and provide “proper compensation for laid-off employees,” as well as make improvements to layoff processes, ahead of what sounds like expected “future reduncies.”
“For years, you have expected [employees] to adapt to your every whim, with those in disagreement being shut down or cast aside,” the letter reads. “These layoffs happened because you repeatedly refused to listen to your workforce’s years of experience, resulting in one of the worst video game launches this decade.”
Examples of issues faced due to management failures include “radical changes” to working practices with little explanation, “confusion and distress for all staff” as redundancies began — including various errors in the dismissal process, and four months of mandatory overtime ahead of MindsEye’s launch for which staff say they still have not been fully compensated.
“These and many other issues,” the letter continues, “have caused pain and stress for your employees. Our experience at the company has been one of burnout, job insecurity, health issues, and the failure of a game that many of us have put years of our lives into.”
In an email to IGN, the IWGB provided further quotes from former staff members backing up the letter’s claims. One ex-MindsEye developer said that Build A Rocket Boy’s “public statements of care have not matched the reality of working conditions” at the company. Another detailed seeing “mental and even physical illnesses, beyond the usual burnout” among fellow staff due to the months of overtime.
“Studio leadership have chosen not to take responsibility for the game’s failure and instead blamed saboteurs, as if individual employees or online influencers could have caused this,” one former employee stated, referencing the bizarre comments made by Gerhard ahead of release that blamed unnamed hostile forces for the game’s poor reception — a position that MindsEye publisher IO Interactive later distanced itself from. “The arrogance of leadership to believe they can act with impunity throughout development and the following redundancies has pushed myself and many former and continuing employees to take a stand.”
Originally planned as a single-player component for Everywhere, a seemingly now-abandoned metaverse-style platform, MindsEye ultimately launched to a negative response and lackluster sales. Build a Rocket Boy has since said it wants to continue working on the game and give it something of a relaunch, though more recently cautioned that this would take longer than planned.
Today’s letter concludes with demands for a public apology and proper compensation, for remaining staff still at risk of redundancy to take payment in leave of notice, a commitment to use an external partner in future layoffs to prevent unfair treatment, and for a “concerted, meaningful and documented effort to improve conditions and processes within the company.”
“The treatment that workers at Build A Rocket Boy have been facing in the past 12 months has been shocking,” IWGB Game Workers chairperson Spring McparlinJones said in a statement passed to IGN. “They have been routinely belittled, cheated, and manipulated by the company they dedicated years of their lives to. Despite this, they were able to keep trust in each other and work together to fight for fair treatment.”
Image credit: IWGB
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
