{"id":1809235,"date":"2026-03-05T16:50:44","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T13:50:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1809235"},"modified":"2026-03-05T16:50:44","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T13:50:44","slug":"mindseye-developer-build-a-rocket-boys-co-ceo-blames-organised-espionage-and-corporate-sabotage-again-while-announcing-new-wave-of-layoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1809235","title":{"rendered":"MindsEye developer Build A Rocket Boy&#8217;s co-CEO blames &#8220;organised espionage and corporate sabotage&#8221; again, while announcing new wave of layoffs"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"article \" data-ads=\"true\" data-article-type=\"news\" data-article-group=\"news\" data-paywalled=\"false\" data-premium=\"false\" data-sponsored=\"false\" data-type=\"article\">\n<header class=\"article_header\" data-component=\"article-header\">\n<div class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n<nav class=\"nav_breadcrumbs\" data-component=\"nav-breadcrumbs\" aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\">\n<ul class=\"nav-links\">\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Home<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/news\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      News<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/mindseye\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      MindsEye<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/nav><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_details\" id=\"main-content\">\n<h1 class=\"title\">MindsEye developer Build A Rocket Boy&#8217;s co-CEO blames &#8220;organised espionage and corporate sabotage&#8221; again, while announcing new wave of layoffs<\/h1>\n<p class=\"strapline\">A big &#8220;reset update&#8221; arrived in early February.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_asset\">\n<figure class=\"headline_image_wrapper\">\n<p>        <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"headline_image\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/mindseye-build-a-rocket-boy-(9).jpg?width=570&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;dpr=3&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"MindsEye - protagonist closeup\" loading=\"eager\" data-uri=\"mindseye-build-a-rocket-boy-(9).jpg\" data-lightbox width=\"570\" height=\"321\"><figcaption>\n          <span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Build A Rocket Boy<\/cite><\/span><br \/>\n        <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"metadata\">\n<div class=\"avatar\">\n<p>    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Fran Ruiz avatar\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/fran-j-ruiz-author.png?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"180\" height=\"180\"><\/p>\n<p>  <img alt=\"Fran Ruiz avatar\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-uri=\"fran-j-ruiz-author.png\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"180\" height=\"180\">\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"text\">\n<div class=\"byline\">\n                  <span class=\"article_type\" data-slug=\"news\"><br \/>\n                    News<br \/>\n                  <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"by\">by<\/span> <span class=\"author\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/authors\/fran-ruiz\">Fran Ruiz<\/a><\/span>                    <span class=\"job_title\"><br \/>\n                      Contributor<br \/>\n                    <\/span>\n            <\/div>\n<div class=\"published_at\">\nPublished on <time datetime=\"2026-03-05T16:50:44+00:00\">March 5, 2026<\/time>              <\/div>\n<div class=\"comments\">\n      <a class=\"comments__link comments-bubble\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/mindseye-developer-build-a-rocket-boy-hit-with-layoffs-again-co-ceo-blames-espionage-and-sabotage?view=comments\" rel=\"nofollow\"><br \/>\n          22 comments<br \/>\n      <\/a>\n    <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"mypop-header-wrapper\">\n<p><button class=\"mypop-button button wide\" data-state=\"follow\" data-type=\"tag\" data-uuid=\"1f15923b-3f2a-4e98-b438-353ad6ac6bae\" data-name=\"MindsEye\" data-follow-text=\"Follow MindsEye\" data-unfollow-text=\"Following MindsEye\" data-aria-follow-text=\"Follow MindsEye\" data-aria-unfollow-text=\"Following MindsEye\" data-popup=\"true\" data-force-login=\"true\" aria-label=\"Follow MindsEye\" title=\"Follow MindsEye\"><br \/>\n  Follow MindsEye<br \/>\n<\/button>          <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p>While many have forgotten about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/mindseye\">MindsEye<\/a> following its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/mindseye-review\">disastrous launch<\/a> last year, Build A Rocket Boy developers have spent the last few months hard at work, trying to salvage it and betting big on what worked while fixing what didn&#8217;t as well as possible.<\/p>\n<p>Problems began last summer when reviews of the game dropped online and its buggy state at launch was heavily criticised online. Shortly afterwards, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ign.com\/articles\/mindseye-devs-uk-workforce-of-around-300-receive-at-risk-emails-as-former-gta-lead-leslie-benzies-finally-addresses-staff\">BARB staff received at-risk mails<\/a>, which led to layoffs at the company. Now, as reported by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ign.com\/articles\/mindseye-developer-build-a-rocket-boy-announces-further-layoffs-as-ceo-doubles-down-on-organised-espionage-and-corporate-sabotage-claims\">IGN<\/a> and elsewhere, the workforce is being hit once again. This comes following disappointing results from its <a href=\"https:\/\/news.mindseye.game\/#update-%237:-consoles-and-pc\">seventh major update<\/a>, which was meant to &#8220;reset the brand&#8221; and heavily polish the experience. At the very least, it managed to bump the game&#8217;s recent reviews <a href=\"https:\/\/store.steampowered.com\/app\/3265250\/MindsEye\/\">on Steam<\/a> to &#8216;mostly positive&#8217; and get some people to finally check out the game. Sadly, it seems that wasn&#8217;t enough to turn things around.<\/p>\n<p>This wouldn&#8217;t be much different from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/highguard-will-shut-down-permanently-next-week-because-it-doesnt-have-enough-revenue-to-keep-anyone-employed-to-work-on-it\">the difficulties other studios are facing<\/a> after major flops, but co-CEO Mark Gerhard&#8217;s latest comments on the situation take us right back into the fire. This is the latest post from the official BARB LinkedIn account:<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Build A Rocket Boy LinkedIn comms - new layoffs\" height=\"760\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/1772649647651.jpg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 0.775\" width=\"589\"><\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Build A Rocket Boy LinkedIn comms - new layoffs\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-lightbox data-uri=\"1772649647651.jpg\" height=\"760\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 0.775\" width=\"589\"><figcaption><span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Build A Rocket Boy<\/cite><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>After ex-Rockstar veteran and BARB founder Leslie Benzies <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/mindseye-boss-alleges-saboteurs-within-the-company-were-behind-its-poor-reception-according-to-new-report\">alleged in an internal meeting<\/a> last year that &#8220;internal and external&#8221; forces tried to disrupt the game&#8217;s launch, there&#8217;s been recurring talk from Build A Rocket Boy&#8217;s executives about espionage, sabotage, and other criminal activities. Through this new piece of official comms, Gerhard is doubling down on claims that &#8220;organised espionage and corporate sabotage&#8221; happened around MindsEye&#8217;s development. He&#8217;s also taken the time to underline the matter is &#8220;moving toward prosecution,&#8221; which is why details can&#8217;t be shared at the time of writing.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>On 9th February, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gamesindustry.biz\/can-build-a-rocket-boy-save-itself\">GamesIndustry.biz<\/a> reported on Slack messages that revealed workers at the studio had discovered &#8220;that management had installed monitoring software called Teramind on their machines.&#8221; This, according to the site&#8217;s sources, greatly impacted the performance of &#8220;essential&#8221; game development software. Part of the report (also backed by <a href=\"https:\/\/insider-gaming.com\/mindseye-ceo-alleges-1-million-sabotaging-its-game\/\">Insider Gaming<\/a>) explained Gerhard had told the staff in attendance the expectation was to remove the cybersecurity software &#8220;within three months.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>BARB&#8217;s next steps, whether legal or related to MindsEye&#8217;s development, remain unclear, but <a href=\"https:\/\/steamdb.info\/app\/3265250\/charts\/\">the game&#8217;s SteamDB page<\/a> shows a 39-player 24-hour peak, with only 19 players inside the game right now. Its all-time peak was 3,302 players nine months ago. Without solid data on the game&#8217;s performance on consoles, it&#8217;s hard to make a final assessment of how it&#8217;s gone down, but looking at the ongoing drama, we&#8217;d say the vibes are rotten.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"preferred-source\" data-component=\"preferred-source\">\nLove Eurogamer.net? Make us a <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\">Preferred Source on Google<\/a> and catch more of our coverage in your feeds.  <\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p>While many have forgotten about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/mindseye\">MindsEye<\/a> following its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/mindseye-review\">disastrous launch<\/a> last year, Build A Rocket Boy developers have spent the last few months hard at work, trying to salvage it and betting big on what worked while fixing what didn&#8217;t as well as possible.<\/p>\n<p>Problems began last summer when reviews of the game dropped online and its buggy state at launch was heavily criticised online. Shortly afterwards, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ign.com\/articles\/mindseye-devs-uk-workforce-of-around-300-receive-at-risk-emails-as-former-gta-lead-leslie-benzies-finally-addresses-staff\">BARB staff received at-risk mails<\/a>, which led to layoffs at the company. Now, as reported by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ign.com\/articles\/mindseye-developer-build-a-rocket-boy-announces-further-layoffs-as-ceo-doubles-down-on-organised-espionage-and-corporate-sabotage-claims\">IGN<\/a> and elsewhere, the workforce is being hit once again. This comes following disappointing results from its <a href=\"https:\/\/news.mindseye.game\/#update-%237:-consoles-and-pc\">seventh major update<\/a>, which was meant to &#8220;reset the brand&#8221; and heavily polish the experience. At the very least, it managed to bump the game&#8217;s recent reviews <a href=\"https:\/\/store.steampowered.com\/app\/3265250\/MindsEye\/\">on Steam<\/a> to &#8216;mostly positive&#8217; and get some people to finally check out the game. Sadly, it seems that wasn&#8217;t enough to turn things around.<\/p>\n<p>This wouldn&#8217;t be much different from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/highguard-will-shut-down-permanently-next-week-because-it-doesnt-have-enough-revenue-to-keep-anyone-employed-to-work-on-it\">the difficulties other studios are facing<\/a> after major flops, but co-CEO Mark Gerhard&#8217;s latest comments on the situation take us right back into the fire. This is the latest post from the official BARB LinkedIn account:<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Build A Rocket Boy LinkedIn comms - new layoffs\" height=\"760\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/1772649647651.jpg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 0.775\" width=\"589\"><\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Build A Rocket Boy LinkedIn comms - new layoffs\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-lightbox data-uri=\"1772649647651.jpg\" height=\"760\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 0.775\" width=\"589\"><figcaption><span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Build A Rocket Boy<\/cite><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>After ex-Rockstar veteran and BARB founder Leslie Benzies <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/mindseye-boss-alleges-saboteurs-within-the-company-were-behind-its-poor-reception-according-to-new-report\">alleged in an internal meeting<\/a> last year that &#8220;internal and external&#8221; forces tried to disrupt the game&#8217;s launch, there&#8217;s been recurring talk from Build A Rocket Boy&#8217;s executives about espionage, sabotage, and other criminal activities. Through this new piece of official comms, Gerhard is doubling down on claims that &#8220;organised espionage and corporate sabotage&#8221; happened around MindsEye&#8217;s development. He&#8217;s also taken the time to underline the matter is &#8220;moving toward prosecution,&#8221; which is why details can&#8217;t be shared at the time of writing.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>On 9th February, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gamesindustry.biz\/can-build-a-rocket-boy-save-itself\">GamesIndustry.biz<\/a> reported on Slack messages that revealed workers at the studio had discovered &#8220;that management had installed monitoring software called Teramind on their machines.&#8221; This, according to the site&#8217;s sources, greatly impacted the performance of &#8220;essential&#8221; game development software. Part of the report (also backed by <a href=\"https:\/\/insider-gaming.com\/mindseye-ceo-alleges-1-million-sabotaging-its-game\/\">Insider Gaming<\/a>) explained Gerhard had told the staff in attendance the expectation was to remove the cybersecurity software &#8220;within three months.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>BARB&#8217;s next steps, whether legal or related to MindsEye&#8217;s development, remain unclear, but <a href=\"https:\/\/steamdb.info\/app\/3265250\/charts\/\">the game&#8217;s SteamDB page<\/a> shows a 39-player 24-hour peak, with only 19 players inside the game right now. Its all-time peak was 3,302 players nine months ago. Without solid data on the game&#8217;s performance on consoles, it&#8217;s hard to make a final assessment of how it&#8217;s gone down, but looking at the ongoing drama, we&#8217;d say the vibes are rotten.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Home News MindsEye MindsEye developer Build A Rocket Boy&#8217;s co-CEO blames &#8220;organised espionage and corporate sabotage&#8221; again, while announcing new wave of layoffs A big &#8220;reset update&#8221; arrived in early February. Image credit: Build A Rocket Boy News by Fran Ruiz Contributor Published on March 5, 2026 22 comments Follow MindsEye While many have forgotten [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,253],"class_list":["post-1809235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-eurogamer-net"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1809235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1809235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1809235\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1809235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1809235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1809235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}