As reported by IGN, citing two anonymous individuals within BARB, on July 2, Benzies finally addressed staff nearly a month after MindsEye’s disastrous release in a brief video call, blaming “internal and external saboteurs” for the mess Build A Rocket Boy and MindsEye have found themselves in – remarks that closely mirrored co-CEO Mark Gerhar’s bizarre claims that all the negative feedback MindsEye received before launch came from paid bots.
Allegedly, the CEO assured staff that BARB would bounce back and relaunch MindsEye, and while there’s hope among the studio’s developers for a No Man’s Sky-style redemption arc, they themselves are unsure BARB would be able to deliver, especially as the studio has confirmed plans to lay off at least 100 developers from its 300-strong UK office.
Speaking about the job cuts, IGN further claimed that Build A Rocket Boy has sent emails to all UK employees and to staff at PlayFusion – acquired by BARB in 2024 – informing them they’re at risk of being fired. With the PlayFusion team and all 300 of BARB’s UK workers potentially facing the same fate – metaphorically speaking – as King Leonidas’s army at Thermopylae in the coming weeks or months, the future of MindsEye and PlayFusion’s FPS project Ascendant appears, at best, uncertain.