IO Interactive ends MindsEye publishing deal with Build A Rocket Boy

IO Interactive’s publishing partnership with Build A Rocket Boy on MindsEye has ended, with Build A Rocket Boy now set to take over sole publishing responsibilities for the game. The change was reported on March 18 and marks a significant shift for one of the higher-profile third-party projects previously attached to IOI Partners.

Build A Rocket Boy will take over publishing duties

According to reporting, IO Interactive’s role in MindsEye is ending, apart from essential transitional work needed to transfer publisher-of-record status to Build A Rocket Boy. The two companies are said to be working through that transition over the coming weeks, after which Build A Rocket Boy will be fully responsible for publishing duties.

The split also appears to bring an end to the planned Hitman crossover mission for MindsEye. That crossover had been part of the game’s roadmap, but the March 18 reports said it is no longer moving forward following the end of the publishing arrangement between IO Interactive and Build A Rocket Boy.

The change reverses IO Interactive’s 2024 publishing plan

The development is notable because IO Interactive had formally announced in October 2024 that it would publish and distribute MindsEye under its IOI Partners label. At the time, the company presented MindsEye as a cinematic AAA action-adventure thriller from Leslie Benzies’ Build A Rocket Boy, positioning the project as one of the key third-party titles in its publishing lineup.

That makes the latest update a clear reversal from IO Interactive’s earlier plans for the game. Instead of continuing under the IOI Partners umbrella, MindsEye will now move ahead with Build A Rocket Boy handling publishing on its own.

The change comes after a difficult stretch for MindsEye, which has faced heavy scrutiny since launch. While the publishing split does not mean the end of the title itself, it does remove one of its more prominent external partners and scraps the planned Hitman tie-in that had helped raise the game’s profile.

IO Interactive is no longer publishing MindsEye, Build A Rocket Boy is taking over sole publishing duties, and the previously announced Hitman crossover is no longer happening.