Scots game developer led by former GTA producer collapses into administration

An Edinburgh-based game development company has fallen into administration, resulting in further job losses.

Build a Rocket Boy (BARB) was launched in October 2018 by Leslie Benzies, who was the main producer of the Grand Theft Auto series from the third instalment through GTA V.

It comes nearly a year after the company cut between 250 and 300 roles, with around 150 being made redundant in Scotland following the failure of its first project.

The highly anticipated release of MindsEye was met with major criticism when it hit the shelves in June last year.

Between 250 and 300 employees have been made redundant after the game flopped. Build A Rocket Boy

Gamers described the launch as “disastrous” as the release was marred by technical issues.

Last week, administrators from Opus Restructuring were appointed to the company, and a further 36 jobs have been lost.

What went wrong with MindsEye?

A teaser for the sci-fi action-adventure game was released at Gamescom 2022, and hype continued to grow for the next three years.

Concerns were raised when advance review codes, which are standard practice in the industry, were not issued.

In the week prior to the release, BARB’s chief legal officer and chief financial officer both resigned.

Last year, an open letter signed by 93 current and former employees was issued by the Game Workers Branch of the Independent Workers of Great Britain.

It claimed that the company’s refusal to listen resulted in “one of the worst video game launches this decade”.

They claim that in the months leading up to MindsEye’s launch, Benzies and co-CEO Mark Gerhard imposed mandatory eight hours of overtime per week for all staff.

Time off in lieu was allegedly promised, however, this hadn’t been taken due to “high priority” work still taking place after the game’s release.

Employees said they suffered burnout, job insecurity and health issues whilst working on the game “that many of us have put years of our lives into”.

The CEOs were criticised for their “lack of transparency and communication” which often resulted in “radical changes” without input of staff.

The company said last year it didn’t anticipate having to make redundancies after the game was released and that Benzies and the senior management team took full responsibility for the initial launch.

In a statement, BARB said: “The version of the game that was released did not reflect the experience our community deserved.

“Since then, we’ve been fully committed to updating, improving, and ultimately delivering MindsEye as the game we always envisioned – and the one players are excited to play.

“As many have seen, we’ve rolled out numerous updates, continue to refine performance and address bugs, and are preparing significant combat and gameplay enhancements alongside fresh new content coming soon.”

Build a Rocket Boy has been contacted for comment on the administration.