Laid-Off MindsEye Developers Plan Protest Outside Company Office Over 'All-Expenses-Paid Playtest Day'

Developers who lost their jobs at MindsEye studio Build a Rocket Boy (BARB) are planning to protest outside the company's Edinburgh office this Saturday, July 11, at 11am local time. The protest, organized by the IWGB Game Workers Union (which also represents fired GTA 6 developers), targets what the union calls an "all-expenses-paid playtest day" where fans are flown in to test new features for MindsEye. The union claims BARB is funding this event despite conducting mass layoffs over the past year and amid ongoing disputes over invasive employee surveillance, union blacklisting, and redundancy handling. IGN has reached out to BARB for comment.

The IWGB expects around 20 attendees, including laid-off BARB workers and supporters, but no current BARB staff. This protest marks the latest turmoil at BARB following the troubled launch of MindsEye. In July last year, IGN reported that BARB issued redundancy warnings to its roughly 300 UK employees after MindsEye flopped. The studio later expressed being "heartbroken" over the game's issues and promised patches to fix performance problems, glitches, and AI bugs.

MindsEye, a story-driven action-adventure game, was initially part of Everywhere—a 'Roblox for adults' platform led by former GTA design chief Leslie Benzies. BARB later focused solely on MindsEye, but it failed commercially. After release, Benzies told staff the studio would rebound and relaunch the game, blaming internal and external saboteurs. CEO Mark Gerhard claimed the studio investigated "criminal activity" around the launch. A subsequent "Blacklisted" update failed to revive interest; MindsEye's peak concurrent Steam players in 24 hours was just 48.

In May, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick commented on BARB's struggles, noting that making hits is increasingly difficult. He praised Rockstar's success while acknowledging that former Rockstar employees have not replicated it yet, but didn't rule out future success. Zelnick emphasized that technology alone won't change the game; it requires extraordinary creativity within the Take-Two system.