Build A Rocket Boy, the Edinburgh-based developer behind MindsEye, has sent out redundancy notices to its UK workforce of approximately 300 employees following the game's troubled launch.

Insiders familiar with operations at the struggling studio told IGN that similar layoff emails were also dispatched to staff at PlayFusion, which BARB acquired in late 2024. PlayFusion, led by CEO Mark Gerhard who became co-CEO of BARB as part of the acquisition, is currently developing a separate title: a fast-paced FPS titled Ascendant, originally slated for release this year.

Last month, IGN reported that BARB initiated a redundancy process following MindsEye’s launch. The standard 45-day consultation period began on June 23, triggered under UK law when an employer proposes 100 or more redundancies within a 90-day window. IGN understands Build A Rocket Boy employs roughly 300 people in the UK and 200 overseas.

Shortly after MindsEye launched, BARB expressed that it was “heartbroken” over the issues players encountered and pledged a series of patches to address significant performance drops, glitches, and AI behavior bugs. The rollout for these fixes has already started.

Throughout the launch period, MindsEye’s difficulties led the developer to cancel sponsored streams. Reports also emerged online of players securing refunds, even from Sony, which is typically known for its strict refund policies.

On Steam—which doesn’t fully capture MindsEye’s current player base—the game peaked at 3,302 concurrent users on launch day but saw a 24-hour peak of just 46 players. At the time of publication, only 26 people were playing on Steam, where MindsEye holds a 'mostly negative' user review rating.

Story-driven action-adventure game MindsEye was originally conceived as part of Everywhere, an adult-oriented creation platform led by former Grand Theft Auto design chief Leslie Benzies. BARB eventually shifted its focus entirely to MindsEye, but the title has yet to generate sufficient revenue for the company.

Meanwhile, BARB sources told IGN that co-founder Leslie Benzies addressed staff via a brief video call on July 2 following the game’s release. According to two attendees who requested anonymity to protect their careers, Benzies asserted that BARB would recover and relaunch MindsEye, attributing the studio’s struggles to internal and external saboteurs among other factors.

These remarks recall comments made by Mark Gerhard prior to MindsEye’s launch. The co-CEO gained headlines for claiming there was a “concerted effort” by some to “trash the game and the studio,” suggesting that individuals were being paid or using spam bots to post negative reviews. IO Interactive, publisher of the Hitman series, subsequently issued a denial.

BARB sources told IGN that internally, there is strong desire for a MindsEye redemption arc that could eventually make it successful for the studio. However, as staff anxiously await their fate, serious questions remain about whether BARB can deliver on its post-launch content roadmap, including the promised multiplayer mode, on schedule.

Earlier this week, BARB released the third post-launch update for MindsEye on consoles, with a PC version to follow. “We’ve watched hundreds of hours of gameplay footage and reviewed player feedback across multiple channels to prioritize the most pressing issues and improve the experience for all our console players,” the studio stated.