Mark Gerhard, CEO of Build a Rocket Boy, has revealed that the studio is developing a new mission for its game MindsEye, which he claims will contain 'evidence' backing his allegations that the game was deliberately sabotaged. In an interview with GamesBeat, Gerhard stated the mission, titled Blacklist, will introduce a female playable character and serve as a platform to share proof of the supposed sabotage with players, though he provided no specifics on what this evidence entails.
Gerhard has been vocal for months, asserting there was a 'concerted effort' by both internal and external actors to 'trash the game and the studio.' He alleges that saboteurs bribed influencers and deployed spam bots to disparage the game on social media. However, he has not yet substantiated these claims with concrete evidence, and former publisher IO Interactive has dismissed them as unfounded.
During the same interview, Gerhard mentioned that authorities in the US and UK are investigating what he describes as criminal corporate espionage. 'We have strong evidence and have conducted thorough investigations since launch,' he said. 'We've identified involved parties, and it's now with the authorities to handle. They're assisting us, but it's in their hands for any arrests or announcements. We'll let justice take its course.'
Gerhard acknowledged that MindsEye launched with significant issues, including bugs and crashes, taking responsibility for these problems. 'We know we had the worst launch in history, and we're working to improve the game now that the interference has stopped,' he added, expressing excitement for a planned relaunch.
He also noted that studio head Leslie Benzies, former producer of GTA 5, has returned from an extended post-launch vacation, but hinted at potential further layoffs after two previous rounds. Despite the game's poor reception—with a Metacritic score of 39, a user score of 2.6, a 'mixed' rating on Steam, and low player counts (e.g., 11 concurrent players on Steam at the time of writing)—Gerhard insisted it is being 'very well-reviewed' and that sales are 'increasing organically, doubling almost weekly.'
Earlier this month, it was announced that IO Interactive transferred all publishing duties to Build a Rocket Boy and canceled a planned Hitman crossover event.
