Key Takeaways
1. Game Development Turmoil: MindsEye faced significant challenges during its development, leading to harsh criticism and being labeled as “one of the worst games” upon release.
2. Lack of Direction: Former employees highlighted a disorganized atmosphere, with unclear goals from leadership that contributed to the project’s struggles.
3. Ineffective Management: Decisions made by upper management often disregarded employee feedback, leading to inefficient workflows and low morale among staff.
4. Mass Layoffs and Legal Action: Recent layoffs affected 250-300 employees, prompting legal action from the union representing the workers, amid claims of poor management.
5. Acknowledgment of Failures: Build A Rocket Boy’s leadership accepted responsibility for the game’s shortcomings, expressing a commitment to improve and learn from the experience.
The saga surrounding MindsEye continues as new claims emerge from ex-employees, shedding light on the turmoil during the game’s development. Released in June, the game faced harsh criticism, with reviews labeling it as “one of the worst games” many had ever experienced, disappointing a large number of users.
Development Challenges
Once highly anticipated due to Benzies’ influence in transforming the Grand Theft Auto franchise into a cultural phenomenon, Build A Rocket Boy raised over $300 million by 2024 and grew to 448 employees with offices in Edinburgh, Budapest, and Montpellier.
Initially, the studio set its sights on an ambitious multiplayer RPG titled Everywhere, which promised user-generated content in a futuristic open world. However, the studio later pivoted to focus on MindsEye, which was initially seen as a supplementary experience for Everywhere.
Internal Struggles
Former employees describe a dismal atmosphere filled with dysfunction. Jamie, a staff member who departed BARB in 2022, shared with the BBC that “Leslie never decided what game he wanted to make,” which led to “no coherent direction” that “haunted the project from its inception.”
Ben Newbon, a former lead data analyst, discussed the frequent “knee-jerk” decisions made by upper management, where essential feedback was regularly “ignored and never acted upon.” Meanwhile, Benzies’ tendency to micromanage turned into what the team referred to as “Leslie tickets” or “Leslie bugs.”
Disrupted Workflows
All direct orders from Leslie Benzies took priority over the development team’s ongoing tasks, hindering their ability to manage their own workflows. Margherita “Marg” Peloso, a former associate producer, added that any efforts to voice concerns were “met with laughter in meetings with the bosses.”
This led to a work environment where employees felt “commanded to give a lot to the company without receiving much in return.” Isaac Hudd, a former audio programmer, noted that the rapid feature changes requested by Benzies at “breakneck speed” were too rushed for proper execution, causing regressions where one team’s work undid another’s solutions.
Hudd further expressed, “And it does mess with you. You really do start to see the morale drop, and small arguments begin to arise. People burning the candle at both ends and starting to wonder: ‘What’s the point?’”
Layoffs and Legal Actions
Earlier this month, between 250 and 300 BARB employees were let go, with most being from the Edinburgh studio. The IWGB union’s Game Workers Branch announced it would pursue legal action on behalf of the affected staff.
In response, Build A Rocket Boy stated that it aims to manage the redundancy process with “care and transparency,” while also expressing its “commitment to learning and growing.”
In the studio’s statement, it elaborated, “Leslie and the whole senior management team take full responsibility for MindsEye’s initial launch. The version of the game that was released did not reflect the experience our community deserved.”
Despite releasing hotfixes and Update 4 to fix bugs and enhance gameplay, former staff like Newbon view the situation as a “wasted” chance for Scotland’s gaming industry during a time when layoffs have surpassed tens of thousands across the sector.
The entire MindsEye controversy has left the lead actor anxious about future job prospects, and IO Interactive has decided to pause its third-party publishing efforts.
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