Build A Rocket Boy is set to host an all-expenses-paid fan event at its Edinburgh offices this Saturday, but the studio will be met with more than just excited players. Members of the Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain (IWGB) and current employees plan to gather outside the premises at 10 a.m. to protest the company’s spending priorities.
A Conflict of Priorities
The protest targets the studio’s decision to fund travel and accommodation for community members to visit the office, a move the union considers tone-deaf following a brutal year for the company's workforce. Over the past 12 months, Build A Rocket Boy has cut more than 400 jobs across three separate rounds of redundancies. The most recent reduction occurred in May, impacting 170 staff members shortly after the release of a new mission that reportedly depicted the very accusations of corporate sabotage cited by leadership to explain the game's poor performance.
Beyond the layoffs, the union has raised concerns regarding the nature of the fan event itself. The IWGB stated that attendees will be expected to perform playtesting duties typically handled by professional staff. This follows reports that the studio previously cut long-standing community team members, only to hire a player for a role without a formal interview or job advertisement.
A Strained History
The tension at the studio extends well beyond this weekend's event. In March 2026, co-CEO Mark Gerhard cited “irrefutable evidence” of espionage and sabotage as the cause for the game’s critical failure, which saw MindsEye land as the worst-reviewed game of 2025 with a Metacritic score of 37. These claims were met with skepticism from staff, 93 of whom signed an open letter in October 2025, asserting that the layoffs were the result of leadership refusing to listen to their employees' experience.
Legal friction also remains a significant factor. The IWGB is currently pursuing legal action against the developer after it was discovered that Teramind—employee monitoring software capable of tracking keystrokes, emails, and files—was installed on worker devices without their knowledge. While the software has since been removed, the legal proceedings continue.
As the studio attempts to regain momentum with this updated build of MindsEye, the protest serves as a reminder of the internal turmoil that has defined the project's recent history. Build A Rocket Boy has not yet provided a comment regarding the planned demonstration.