Just a few days after having released an update for MindsEye that brought with it a mission about the title’s alleged saboteurs, studio Build A Rocket Boy has now been hit with a new round of layoffs. While a precise number for how many employees are being affected is currently unknown, according to a report by Kotaku, it is around 170 of the studio’s employees. This would also bring the headcount at Build A Rocket Boy down to around 80 workers.
The reveal of this latest round of layoffs came courtesy of many now-former employees of Build A Rocket Boy, including technical lead designer James Tyler, audio designer Tom Cross, QA analyst Gary Iain Gough, and level designer Leah Philpot.
“Unfortunately due to the recent redundancies at Build A Rocket Boy, I’m now looking for new opportunities within Sound Design and Audio,” wrote Cross on LinkedIn. In a similar post, Tyler wrote, “Due to the latest redundancies at BARB unfortunately my role is ending at the end of May.”
Many members of the studio’s social media team have also confirmed the layoffs through Discord posts, including digital marketing manager George Jons-Clothier.
“Just popping in to share that tomorrow (May 5th) will be my last working day with BARB,” he wrote. “It has been an absolute pleasure and a genuine honor to be part of this community. You folks are some of the kindest, most welcoming, talented, and passionate people I’ve ever had the privilege of knowing and have made every day working on MindsEye feel meaningful and fun.”
These layoffs follow another round from back in March, which studio CEO Mark Gerhard blamed on “factors beyond normal operational challenges and a competitive environment.” He also said that he had been working with external partners and legal advisors, resulting 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.”
As one would expect, this conspiracy theory-laden post by Gerhard drew plenty of criticism, including from Riot Games’ Nic McConnell, who said that the CEO should not have combined announcing layoffs with these theories. “These are people, this is their livelihood and your post is disrespectful to their contributions,” he wrote.
It is also worth noting that, just last month, a number of employees part of the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) filed a lawsuit against Build A Rocket Boy, alleging that the studio’s leadership had been spying on employees through the use of monitoring software Teramind. The software was only removed after 40 employees had signed a collective grievance about its use, according to IWGB representatives.
Many of the studio’s former employees have also spoken out against its practices, including industry veteran and MindsEye lead animator Chris Wilson. “Sometimes traumatic experiences can bring people closer, right?” he said. “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.”
Former lead games analyst Ben Newborn also spoke out against Build A Rocket Boy, noting that the company had already made crunch periods part of its development culture.
