MindsEye Developer Begin Layoff Process Despite Strong Sales

Build A Rocket Boy, the studio behind the recent sci-fi action title MindsEye, has begun the process of laying off staff after a controversial – yet financially successful – launch.

Formed in 2016 by former Rockstar North president and Grand Theft Auto producer Leslie Benzies, Build A Rocket Boy has been developing an MMO/game creation platform hybrid named Everywhere since its inception. The studio’s debut title, MindsEye, was released both as the first part of the platform, with plans to allow players to add user-generated content to the game through Everywheres in the future, and as a standalone game.

Despite strong sales, MindsEye launched to increasingly negative reviews due to a strong presence of bugs and technical issues, some of which were addressed in a hotfix released by the development team within a week of release. The team also made it clear that continuing to fix these issues is their “number one focus and an ongoing commitment” in a post on Reddit.

In a statement given to IGN, Build A Rocket Boy confirmed that a redundancy process had begun internally, saying: “We can confirm that we have had to make the painful decision to notify our hardworking team of some internal changes at Build A Rocket Boy.” This comes after rumours that this process, which could affect over 100 employees, was set to begin on June 23.

The statement also addresses the studios future and post-launch content for MindsEye: “…while we are deeply saddened by today’s decision and thankful to our incredible team, this shift allows us 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.”

This will be the second round of significant layoffs at Build A Rocket Boy, following a similar process in early 2024, over a year before the launch of their first title. MindsEye is available to purchase and play on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC through Steam and the Epic Games Store.

Words by Ash Douglas

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