MindsEye developers slam Build a Rocket Boy leadership: "Is this how you treat your own?"

Ninety-three current and former developers at Build A Rocket Boy, the studio behind MindsEye, have signed an open letter accusing the leadership of longstanding disrespect and mistreatment, including unbreakable overtime and a botched redundancy process that has left staff in distress.

The letter was published on October 10 by the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain Game Workers’ branch and directly addressed co-founders Leslie Benzies, former Rockstar North president and co-CEO Mark Gerhard, and ex-CEO of Jagex.

The letter demands accountability for what the workers describe as a culture of burnout and job insecurity, exacerbated by the game’s disastrous launch in June. The letter reads:

We believe you have consistently mishandled the redundancy process, causing confusion and distress for all staff. Employees have received misinformation, been handed dismissal notices with wrong notice periods, and been put in the wrong teams so that their performances were scored by the wrong people. These and other errors have potentially resulted in the wrongful dismissal of dozens of staff members.

The open letter ties MindsEye’s failure directly to management decisions, alleging that a mandatory overtime policy in the four months pre-launch fostered burnout, health issues, and a lack of transparency, ultimately contributing to the title’s poor quality and reception.

Following the launch, the studio initiated redundancies on June 23, affecting an estimated 250 to 300 employees —roughly half of the workforce of around 500. This triggered fears of further cuts as resources shifted toward salvaging MindsEye and developing their next project, Everywhere.

Gerhard previously attributed the backlash to a “concerted effort” against the studio, including paid negative coverage. This claim resonated in internal memos but was later dismissed by publisher IO Interactive, which noted its future in publishing “remains to be seen” after the debacle.

In response to these grievances, the 93 signatories have outlined four specific demands:

A public apology for this mistreatment of employees and proper compensation for laid-off employees:

The option for remaining employees on redundancy notice to either work their notice period or take Payment in Lieu of Notice; A concerted, meaningful and documented effort to improve conditions and processes within the company, including the acknowledgement of the IWGB as a trade union; A commitment to use official external partners to action any future redundancies and prevent unfair treatment.

The letter closed with a somewhat terse statement that could highlight the relative indifference with how developers are treated in the industry as a whole: “you often refer to your employees as a ‘family’, but we ask you to consider, is this really how you treat your own?”.