MindsEye maker Build a Rocket Boy appears to be closing after major layoffs
Build a Rocket Boy, the studio behind MindsEye, appears to be closing for good after more than a year of layoffs.
The latest signal came from inside the company. Principal talent acquisition partner and HR operations manager Dan Hawkins wrote on LinkedIn that he and colleagues were raising their green banner and that he was open to work. He added that he would see the studio, often shortened to BARB, through to the very end while helping to wrap up work in HR, according to VGC.
Hawkins said he had been at the studio for just shy of five years. He was the first hire into its internal recruitment team and helped grow headcount from 200 to 550 staff.
The report follows a difficult run for the Edinburgh-based developer. MindsEye, an action game released in June 2025, holds a 39 score on PC and a 29 on PlayStation 5 on Metacritic, the review-aggregation site. Build a Rocket Boy has since cut more than 400 roles.
Those cuts came in stages. In June 2025, studio sources told IGN that a layoff and redundancy process had started. Redundancy is the formal process used in the United Kingdom for cutting jobs. The studio later confirmed that process had begun.
A further round was reported in May 2026, with about 170 staff cut and roughly 80 remaining, according to GamesIndustry.biz. That report said roles in technical level design and audio design were affected. Level designers build the spaces players move through, while audio designers create sound effects and dialogue systems.
There have also been changes at the top and around the game. Founder Leslie Benzies took temporary leave in February 2026, leaving Mark Gerhard as sole chief executive, according to Insider Gaming. The same month, the studio announced a reset and a new phase of development for MindsEye. Then on 16 March 2026, its publishing partnership with IO Interactive ended. A publisher typically handles distribution, marketing and funding support.
Gerhard has suggested that the commercial failure of MindsEye was linked to criminal activity, including organised espionage and corporate sabotage. The studio later released a MindsEye mission called Blacklisted, which it said would share some of the evidence for that claim with players.
The final legal picture is still unclear. A source told IGN that even if all staff are let go, the company itself may not be dissolved. Kotaku, citing sources familiar with the situation, reported that the studio is set to close its doors.
Build a Rocket Boy has not issued a formal closure statement.
