MindsEye developers sign damning open letter against studio execs over “longstanding disrespect and mistreatment” following game’s disastrous launch

Developers on the ill-fated action game MindsEye have signed an open letter to developer Build A Rocket Boy’s executive leadership, citing “longstanding disrespect and mistreatment” of staff.

The letter has been signed by 93 current and former employees of Build A Rocket Boy, along with the Game Workers Branch of the Independent Workers of Great Britain union.

Following its disastrous launch earlier this year, the studio confirmed the redundancy process had begun. In the open letter, employees claim an estimated 250-300 workers across the company have now lost their livelihoods.

“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,” the letter reads.

Complaints from employees include a lack of transparent communication, “unbearable” levels of overtime, and “disastrous handling of redundancies” among others.

“Information has been sparse and vague, with you often making radical changes to the way we worked with little or no input from those affected,” the letter reads.

In the four months leading up to launch, a mandatory eight hours of overtime was implemented for every employee. This was given back as time in lieu at a rate of seven hours for every eight worked, but due to “continued requests for extra ‘high-priority’ work” many employees have not been able to claim this back.

“We believe you have consistently mishandled the redundancy process, causing confusion and distress for all staff,” the letter reads. “Employees have received misinformation, been handed dismissal notices with the 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.”

It continues: “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. BARB needs to change. CEOs need to take a backseat and allow the skilled people who remain at the company to forge the path ahead.”

The employees have made the following 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 concludes: “Mark Gerhard and Leslie Benzies, you often refer to your employees as ‘family’. But we ask you to consider: is this really how you treat your own?”

“The treatment that workers at Build A Rocket Boy have been facing in the past 12 months has been shocking,” said IWGB Game Workers chairperson Spring Mcparlin Jones. “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.”

Scott Alsworth, IWGB Game Workers PR officer, said: “What we’ve seen at Build A Rocket Boy is the continued normalisation of millionaire executives scapegoating workers for their own mismanagement and profiteering. The sorry financial state the studio now finds itself in is not the work of outside forces or some fifth column of angry trade unionists; it’s the unequivocal result of poor leadership, high-level incompetence, and outright contempt. The blame invariably lies with those in charge.”

Former BARB employee Isaac Hudd stated the studio has “shown little regard for the wellbeing of its staff” and the disappointing launch was due to a “pattern of poor decisions from senior management”.

Ben Newbon, another former employee, added: “The callousness shown by management towards staff at Build A Rocket Boy is truly awful. Even before the disastrous launch of MindsEye, staff had suffered months of crunch, resulting in some horrific mental and even physical illnesses, beyond the typical widespread burnout. 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. 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.”.

Newbon’s comments refer to co-CEO Mark Gerhard claiming negative reaction to the game was paid for in a “concerted effort” against the studio.

MindsEye was the debut game from Build A Rocket Boy, meant to kickstart the studio’s user-generated metaverse Everywhere.

However, it was plagued with technical issues from its launch and was critically panned. Two execs left the studio just one week before the game’s debut.

Since its release, the studio promised performance improvements. Yet publisher IO Interactive has distanced itself from the project, with CEO Hakan Abrak claiming the company’s future as a publisher was now in question.

Lead actor Alex Hernandez feared he may never work in games again following the devastating reception to the game.

Eurogamer has contacted Build A Rocket Boy for comment on the open letter.