MindsEye Developer Claims It Has Evidence of a $1.1M “Coordinated Campaign” to Sabotage Its Reputation

MindsEye was the worst game of 2025 by Metacritic's standards. While developer Build a Rocket Boy has made significant strides to work on and improve the game, including a major update that was released earlier this week, the studio's co-chief executive officer, Mark Gerhard, reportedly believes the game's issues stem from more than just Build a Rocket Boy (BaRB) failing to deliver a solid product.

In a new report from Insider-Gaming, the studio claims to have obtained evidence of a "coordinated campaign to purposefully and maliciously damage Build a Rocket Boy's reputation and undermine confidence in MindsEye. We are working with our legal team and taking steps to address this."

That comes from a statement BaRB sent to Insider-Gaming, after the publication requested a comment on information it had obtained from an internal meeting, where Gerhard not only claimed that the studio had "caught the guys who've been sabotaging MindsEye," but that the alleged sabotage campaign involved the perpetrators spending upwards of €1 million (approximately $1.1 million USD).

So who are the alleged devils behind the sabotage campaign? According to Insider-Gaming's report, it stemmed from a company based in the UK called Ritual Network, and video network, influencer management and advertising company. Allegedly working with Ritual Network in this claimed smear campaign includes a number of influencers, three journalists, and some internal employees at BaRB.

Gerhard reportedly added that the individuals accused of carrying out the alleged sabotage campaign "will all be served in person, criminal complaints, shortly," with the specific charges being "espionage, sabotage, and criminal interference." He added, "Everyone who's involved has real problems, including the company behind it. This is the start of our comeback."

A statement from Ritual Network denies the allegations, saying, "Ritual Network is a creator support platform and is not involved in the matter you referenced. We are not aware of any legitimate legal action involving Ritual Network and have not been provided with any evidence supporting these claims. Any suggestion that Ritual Network is connected to these allegations is incorrect."

Later in the meeting, Gerhard also reportedly added that the studio will "use these people, these names and these facts for our own fun," confirming that his intention is to "put some of these names into our upcoming spy mission." This spy mission is also reportedly the one that was supposed to include Hitman's Agent 47, though that collaboration is no longer in the works since BaRB and IO Interactive ended their publishing agreement. Instead, it'll be reshaped to include the alleged perpetrators.

"Let's tell the community the story before it even plays out in court," Gerhard reportedly added. "So, you know, I think this is not us being the victim. We've taken a couple of punches. We've kept turning the other cheek while we got our house in order. And now it's time to start judoing this right back at them. And, you know, so let's have some fun with it. At the end of the day, we're storytellers, we're game makers."

Last year, when MindsEye launched in an undeniably broken state, with players asking for refunds and reports of mass layoffs (that were later confirmed) coming less than a month after its launch, the studio said it was "heartbroken" with how things had gone, and vowed to keep working on the game to make it up to players and realize the vision it always had for MindsEye.

At the same time, Gerhard and his fellow co-chief executive officer, Leslie Benzies, who you might also recognize as a former long-time producer at Rockstar who worked on several games in the Grand Theft Auto series and both Red Dead Redemption titles, also blamed internal and external "saboteurs" for the game and the studio's woes.

But while BaRB leadership was busy pointing fingers, developers at the studio pointed them right back at Gerhard and Benzies. 93 BaRB developers called out Gerhard and Benzies in an open letter last October for "longstanding disrespect and mistreatment of your staff."

"For years, you have expected them to adapt to your every whim, with those in disagreement being shut down or cast aside. We estimate a UK-majority of the 250-300 workers across the company have now lost their livelihoods. These layoffs happened because you repeatedly refused to listen to your workforce's years of experience, resulting in one of the worst video game launches this decade," the letter reads.

"Our experience at the company has been one of burnout, job insecurity, health issues, and the failure of a game that many of us have put years of our lives into. BaRB needs to change. CEOs need to take a backseat and allow the skilled people who remain at the company to forge the path ahead."

A little more than a week after the open letter was published, a report from the BBC also pointed to the studio's internal issues stemming from its leadership, with Benzies and Gerhard cited as the problem once again. "Leslie never decided on what game he wanted to make. There was no coherent direction," one BaRB developer told the BBC. The report added that when employees would bring their concerns to Benzies and Gerhard, they were "just ignored" and even "laughed at."

It's important to remember all of this when looking at the last major point of Insider-Gaming's report, which is that BaRB leadership had an employee monitoring and cybersecurity software called Teramind installed to track employee behaviour, without employees' knowledge.

The report adds that Gerhard took "full responsibility" for the poor way the software was rolled out and that he hopes to have it removed in three months' time. That said, Gerhard also reportedly stipulated, "I think it goes without saying that we can trust 99.9% of this business. The problem is it's the one. It's the 1%. That is the problem, and, you know, the next 90 days for this business are absolutely critical."

If Gerhard and BaRB actually do have the evidence to prove that there has been a sabotage campaign rolled out against BaRB and MindsEye, then that drastically changes the story around this game and adds credence to why BaRB leadership would spy on its employees without telling its staff.

If not, then what we're more likely seeing is another video game industry story where poor leadership and mismanagement have led to those in charge pointing their finger everywhere but at themselves, with hundreds of developers losing their livelihoods in the process, and players who, unfortunately, spent their hard-earned money on an unfinished product that may remain in that state forever.

If you're wondering what players think of MindsEye after all this time and all of its patches, some of its user reviews on Steam in the last 30 days are positive, noting improvements to AI-controlled characters and the introduction of new missions. However, there are still several negative reviews citing technical issues that have not been fixed, and perhaps more importantly, those negative reviews are citing more than just technical problems, like the game's writing, pacing, lack of gameplay variety, and other problems, which show MindsEye's issues go far beyond a few bugs and meme-worthy screenshots.

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