In about ten days, players around the world will have the opportunity to discover MindsEye, the first game from the Build A Rocket Boy studio, founded by Leslie Benzies, the former president of Rockstar North, to whom we owe all the Grand Theft Auto games starting with GTA3 (in 2001) and some major Rockstar Games productions. After several years of loyal service, Leslie Benzies was dismissed in somewhat obscure circumstances in January 2016, before turning around and suing Take Two Interactive, Rockstar's parent company, in April 2016.
In the process, Benzies wasted no time and announced the creation of his own studio: Build A Rocket Boy. A first project was quickly presented with Everywhere. Then, in 2023, with MindsEye.
Almost ten years after his departure and the creation of Build A Rocket Boy, the situation doesn't seem exceptional for the former president of Rockstar North. The first Everywhere project is at a standstill and has still not left its beta phase. And the release of MindsEye looks very complicated with a title that seems to be very late technically and, above all, extremely buggy.
To make matters worse, the studio's communication is collapsing with the company's co-CEO who has just accused other publishers and other studios, largely referring to Rockstar Games, of paying journalists and content creators to speak ill of MindsEye.
Build A Rocket Boy: the coming disaster?
From the moment it was announced, MindsEye didn't really convince players or the press. Initially, the game was supposed to be integrated into the Everywhere project. Subsequently, a partnership with IO Interactive (Hitman) was announced, allowing the game to be released physically and in stores, like most other titles on the market. For a very long time, Build A Rocket Boy kept its communications under wraps. We'll have to wait until the beginning of 2025 for a first trailer announcing the game's release this summer.
The first glimpses weren't reassuring. MindsEye seemed like a pretty good game, but late technically and in terms of its gameplay, giving the impression of a game at the end of the PS3/Xbox360 generation and the beginning of the PS4/Xbox One generation. Unfortunately, the studio's communication didn't help. For several weeks, we were treated to very brief gameplay sequences, often from the same scenes, giving the impression that Build A Rocket Boy didn't have much to show us. This was very worrying just a month before the game's release.
Inevitably, faced with such poorly managed communication, doubts and questions began to arise from players who felt the trap coming. On the press side, the situation wasn't much better. A few days ago, Build A Rocket Boy held a small preview with a few journalists and content creators. During this presentation, just three weeks before the game's release, MindsEye unveiled itself through yet another presentation video, but no media outlets were able to play the game. An unusual situation for a title that's expected on June 10th. To make matters worse, the presentation video was unconvincing. So, inevitably, for the past few days, negative feedback and concerns have been piling up around Build A Rocket Boy and its first game. This is precisely what prompted Mark Gerhard, the studio's co-CEO, to make some pretty incredible and rather serious statements on the studio's official Discord.
In these screenshots, which were taken by players and fans of the studio, we can see messages from MMG (Mark Gerhard) addressing the negative feedback. The latter does not hesitate to accuse other studios, largely alluding to Rockstar Games, Leslie Benzies' former company, of paying journalists and content creators to say bad things about MindsEye. In a first exchange, a Discord member responded to Mark Gerhard, pointing out that he was not very well regarded and that it was even quite inappropriate for a co-CEO to accuse other studios of paying creators and journalists to say bad things about their game. To which Mark Gerhard replied: "It's not inappropriate when it's the truth." Another Discord member asked if the co-CEO really thought and if he was sure that all the people who were saying negative things about MindsEye and Build A Rocket Boy were funded by other people. And here again, the co-CEO's response is quite incredible: "100% sure."
Obviously, these statements caused quite a stir, and other Discord members asked who these journalists and influencers could have been paid by? The co-CEO simply replied: "Not hard to know by whom" — obviously referring to Rockstar.
Of course, the messages were quickly deleted and, subsequently, Mark Gerhard denied everything. However, the screenshots are there and prove that this exchange took place on a public channel of the official Discord of the Build A Rocket Boy studio. These are serious accusations, as much against journalists, content creators, but also other studios. And that might not help MindsEye in its already delicate release period.
Build A Rocket Boy: a very dark future?
For our part, according to the information we were able to gather from former developers who may have worked at Build A Rocket Boy, people who are still in place in the studio (and who of course wish to remain anonymous), as well as sources close to the studio, the internal situation is relatively complicated and delicate.
On the Everywhere side, many developers claim not to really know or understand what they are working on. Many team members even believe that the game will ultimately never be released in its final version.
Other members of the MindsEye team confirmed to us at the end of last year that they did not believe in the project. That it would never be ready for release (which was originally planned for this summer and was finally brought forward to the end of spring). Several people have confirmed to us a bad atmosphere, even toxicity within the studio.
Many employees do not believe in the future of Build A Rocket Boy and believe that, if the studio is still standing in two years, it will be a miracle. Testimonies that are increasingly beginning to be confirmed in recent hours with the first statements arriving on social networks:
For our part, many of our contacts were able to confirm the toxic atmosphere and the very particular character of Leslie Benzies. The overall poor management of the studio and projects.
Following the lawsuit between Leslie Benzies and Take Two Interactive (which Leslie Benzies lost), we learned that Benzies was fired from his position as president of Rockstar North after a one-year sabbatical, notably for behavioral issues and unsubmitted work. According to the latest rumors, the man had become very difficult to live with and manage, forcing Rockstar and Take Two to end their collaboration.
MindsEye will arrive on June 10th on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC in a rather icy climate. Apparently, very few media outlets have received a code to be able to test the game before its release. For its part, Everywhere is still in beta, having been for several years, and has no official release date.
0 Comments