After facing layoffs, several now-former employees of MindsEye developer Build a Rocket Boy have planned a protest outside of the studio’s office in Edinburgh, Scotland. The reason for this protest, which will take place on July 11th at 11 AM local time, is an event described as an “all-expenses-paid playtest day.”
Hosted by Build a Rocket Boy, it’s part of the studio’s commitment to its Arcadia platform. In a statement to IGN, it said that the community-oriented event will invite creators on Arcadia together to try out some of the new features being made for it, and to provide direct feedback.
“This Saturday we’re hosting a community event as part of our ongoing commitment to our game creation system, Arcadia, and the creators who have supported us from the very beginning. Bringing creators together to experience new features first-hand and share direct feedback is a very well-established part of game development, and that feedback is our most important input.”
Organized by the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB), the protest is due to Build a Rocket Boy hosting the event despite recent major layoffs. Around 20 participants are expected, though current studio staff will apparently not join.
Back in May, Build a Rocket Boy was hit by layoffs affecting 170 of its employees, bringing down the studio’s overall headcount to around 80 workers. The negative critical reception of MindsEye has been one of the biggest reasons behind its misfortunes, with CEO Mark Gerhard blaming “factors beyond normal operational challenges and a competitive environment.”
Gerhard also went on to blame a supposed conspiracy against the studio with what he has described as “overwhelming evidence of organized espionage and corporate sabotage affecting MindsEye.”
Several former employees have spoken out against the studio’s various practices, including industry veteran and MindsEye lead animator Chris Wilson. “Sometimes traumatic experiences can bring people closer, right? But people… they’re embarrassed about it. People don’t want to talk about it. They don’t want to say that they were part of the project or worked there.”
He also accused the studio of promoting a working culture based on the idea of crunch. For example, the cinematics team had reportedly crunched from June 2025 “until a good few months later” without being appropriately paid.
“Eight hours was the minimum requirement, but people were doing way more for sure,” Wilson said. “I was doing way over an additional eight hours a week…there were people who were certainly not appreciative of having to work those extra hours, but a lot of people just had to bite the bullet. I think Cinematics were crunching for somewhere between six to nine months. Some people racked up a lot of extra hours, and that’s outside of the general day-to-day stuff. People were already doing extra hours, and then they introduced the crunch as well.”
