Developer Build a Rocket Boy—the studio behind last year’s MindsEye—continues to see rough times with a fresh round of lay-offs announced through the company’s LinkedIn page. While the studio hasn’t revealed exactly how many of its employees will be affected, it has noted in a statement by CEO Mark Gerhard, who noted that “the launch period [of MindsEye] was affected by factors beyond normal operational challenges and a competitive environment.”
Further in the statement, Gerhard decided to double-down on previous claims of sabotage against the studio. Without going into too many details, in his statement, the CEO has said that working with external partners and legal advisors has “now resulted in overwhelming evidence of organised espionage and corporate sabotage affecting MindsEye. Because this matter is moving toward prosecution, we cannot share the full details publicly yet.”
This statement has been met by quite a bit of criticism in the post’s comments section. Riot Games’ Nic McConnell, for instance, noted that Gerhard should not have combined the announcement of lay-offs with his own conspiracy theories. “These are people, this is their livelihood and your post is disrespectful to their contributions,” he wrote.
Gerhard had first brought up the conspiracy theory of there being a “concerted effort” by an unknown entity to finance negativity towards MindsEye all the way back in May 2025.
“I just said that there is a concerted effort by some people that don’t want to see [co-CEO Leslie Benzies] or Build A Rocket Boy to be successful that are making a concerted effort to trash the game and the studio,” wrote Gerhard the company’s official Discord server. “It’s pretty easy to see the bots and the repeated replies to any content that we put out.”
More recently, as caught by IGN, Gerhard had accused YouTuber Cyber Boi of “media manipulation, espionage, sabotage” through another post on Discord.
“It is profoundly disappointing to learn that certain BARB employees continue to leak confidential information to you, thereby betraying their colleagues, our studio, and the broader community we serve,” he wrote.
“This letter serves as a formal cease and desist demand: You must immediately stop all activities related to receiving, disseminating, or otherwise utilizing any confidential information from BARB, as well as any further involvement in media manipulation, espionage, sabotage, or interference targeting our organization. Failure to comply will result in escalated legal action.”
“Rest assured, you and your associates involved in this media manipulation cabal will be served with legal papers imminently, as BARB proceeds with complaints alleging criminal espionage, sabotage, and interference. You are all in very serious trouble.”
Build a Rocket Boy has seen plenty of criticism, even from its own former employees. Back in February, several employees had called out the studio’s leadership for refusing to take accountability, and instead blaming “saboteurs inside and outside the company trying to take us down.” In the meantime, a spokesperson had also confirmed that Benzies had taken “a well-earned temporary leave to recharge after more than a year of working around the clock.”
MindsEye, for those still curious, is available on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. Check out our review of its launch version for more details.
