Build A Rocket Boy's boss Leslie Benzies said he wants to bring back Mindseye and give it a second chance to succeed.
But not every game has had a smooth launch. One of the biggest disappointments this year is Mindseye an action-adventure game made by Build A Rocket Boy (also called BARB). The game launched with a lot of problems and didn’t get good reviews. Many players were unhappy and it quickly became known as one of the worst releases of the year.
Even worse the studio behind Mindseye is facing serious issues. There are reports of possible layoffs and the future of the company is uncertain. However Leslie Benzies the head of the studio and a former leader on the Grand Theft Auto series is still hopeful. According to reports he told his team that he wants to relaunch Mindseye and give it a second chance something like a redemption arc where the game gets fixed and becomes successful later on.
Right now that may seem hard to imagine. Mindseye had such a rough start that it feels beyond saving. But we've seen other games turn things around before. For example No Man’s Sky and Cyberpunk 2077 both had terrible launches but over time their developers worked hard fixed many problems and added new features. Today both games are praised by fans and critics. In fact Cyberpunk 2077 is now even listed among the best PC games.
So there’s still hope for Mindseye and it seems like Leslie Benzies believes in that.
IGN reported that Benzies appeared in a short video call with staff on July 2. He said that BARB plans to bounce back and try again with Mindseye. But at the same time IGN also said that many employees at the studio have received at-risk notices. This means they could lose their jobs very soon.
If large parts of the team are laid off it could become very difficult to fix the game or release the new content that was originally planned. Only time will tell whether Mindseye can truly recover or not.
I think Build A Rocket Boy (BARB) still plans to release Everywhere their big user-generated content (UGC) platform that’s supposed to compete with Roblox. It was one of their main goals at first but it looks like they’re now focusing on getting Mindseye out first. Big games like Cyberpunk 2077 needed a lot of time and effort to fix after launch and I don’t think BARB has the time or team for that especially if they’re letting a lot of people go.
IGN also said that during a video call studio head Leslie Benzies blamed both internal and external saboteurs for the problems the game has faced since it launched last month.
It’s still possible that BARB can improve things. Maybe in a year or two the game’s reviews on Steam could go from today’s 37% mostly negative rating to something more positive. Do I fully believe that will happen? Not really. But I would love to be wrong. I really hope BARB finds a way to make a comeback. If Mindseye doesn’t work out maybe Everywhere still has a chance in the future.
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