Build A Rocket Boy Devs Slam Leadership Over “Burnout, Mistreatment, and Mass Layoffs” After MindsEye Launch Disaster

Ninety-three current and former MindsEye developers have signed a scathing open letter, calling out Build A Rocket Boy (BARB) executive leadership for “longstanding disrespect and mistreatment” after the studio’s highly publicised flop.

The letter, backed by the Game Workers Branch of the Independent Workers of Great Britain (IWGB), follows months of turmoil after MindsEye’s disastrous debut earlier this year. BARB’s management has since started laying people off, with devs estimating that a staggering 250-300 employees have already lost their jobs.

We stand in solidarity with employees and ex-employees at Build a Rocket Boy as they file legal claims through our union and publish an open letter, condemning the way in which they’ve been mistreated and discarded by the studio’s millionaire executives. https://t.co/WWm4vxKEfd pic.twitter.com/bOOHaQEakQ

— IWGB Game Workers (@IWGB_GW) October 10, 2025

“BARB Needs to Change”: Crushing Workloads, Bungled Layoffs, and Broken Trust

The open letter does not mince words. According to developers, upper management repeatedly ignored years of staff experience, leading to one of the decade’s most infamous launches.

Inside the studio, staff describe months of “unbearable” overtime, a compulsory eight extra hours each week in the final four months before release. While in theory this was to be paid back as time in lieu (seven hours off for every eight worked), ongoing fire drills and “high-priority” requests meant many never saw their time returned.

“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 says. The “disastrous handling of redundancies” added insult to injury: Employees report being misinformed, given dismissal letters with the wrong notice, and assigned to teams where their performance was evaluated incorrectly, possibly leading to wrongful dismissals for dozens.

“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.”

Signatories demand a public apology, better compensation for laid-off workers, the right for those left to choose between working their notice or leave with payment in lieu, real improvements to internal processes (including union recognition), and a commitment to bring in outside experts for any future layoff waves. The letter’s final lines are a direct challenge to co-CEOs 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?”

Union and Former Staff Say Leadership Is To Blame, Not Workers

Union leaders and ex-employees are drawing a clear line: responsibility for the studio’s chaos lands at the feet of BARB executives, not the devs who built the game. IWGB Game Workers chair Spring McParlin Jones said workers faced “shocking” treatment, describing them as “routinely belittled, cheated, and manipulated by the company they dedicated years of their lives to.”

IWGB PR officer Scott Alsworth blasted BARB’s millionaire leadership for scapegoating staff: “The sorry financial state the studio now finds itself in is not the work of outside forces… It’s the unequivocal result of poor leadership, high-level incompetence, and outright contempt. The blame invariably lies with those in charge.”

Former employee Isaac Hudd slammed senior management’s “pattern of poor decisions,” saying the studio “has shown little regard for the well-being of its staff.” Another ex-staffer, Ben Newbon, painted an even bleaker picture: before MindsEye’s release, the team endured months of crunch and “horrific mental and even physical illnesses, beyond the typical widespread burnout.” According to Newbon, leadership refused to accept responsibility for MindsEye’s struggles, instead claiming that “saboteurs” or “online influencers” had orchestrated a campaign against the studio.

Those comments refer to co-CEO Mark Gerhard’s claim that the negative public reaction was due to “a concerted effort” paid for by outside parties. The developers say this kind of finger-pointing is just another symptom of leadership being out of touch and unwilling to take any blame.

MindsEye’s Fallout Spreads: Exec Departures, Publisher Warnings, Actors in Limbo

MindsEye was supposed to be BARB’s debut blockbuster and the gateway to its ambitious, user-created metaverse project, Everywhere. But the game launched with rampant technical issues and met brutal criticism. Two company executives quit just a week before launch.

Despite a promise of performance updates, publisher IO Interactive has since distanced itself, with CEO Hakan Abrak admitting the company’s entire publishing future is now “in question.” Voice actor Alex Hernandez, who starred in the game, fears the backlash could end his career in games entirely.

As legal claims pile up and the union continues to publicly support employees, BARB leadership has yet to comment on the open letter. Staffers and their supporters say the company’s next moves will determine whether any of the studio’s “family” trust can be rebuilt, or if BARB is headed further into crisis.