The MindsEye Meltdown: How Build A Rocket Boy's Crisis Spun from Buggy Launch to Bizarre Spy Mission

From Catastrophic Launch to Conspiracy Theory

The objective facts of MindsEye’s failure are stark and undeniable. Upon release, the game was critically eviscerated, earning the grim distinction of 2025’s worst-reviewed title. It holds an OpenCritic Top Critic Average of 33/100 and a critics recommendation rate of just 8%. User reception mirrored this, with a Metacritic score of 37. The launch was so bug-plagued and dysfunctional that PlayStation took the rare step of issuing refunds to dissatisfied players. In the wake of this disaster, BARB laid off over 250 staff, a clear consequence of commercial and critical failure.

Internally, however, a radically different explanation took root. In a late January 2026 meeting, co-CEO Mark Gerhard presented employees with a narrative of external malice. He claimed the studio had identified individuals responsible for sabotaging MindsEye, alleging that a "very big American company" had funded a coordinated smear campaign to the tune of over €1 million. This money, he stated, was used to pay influencers, journalists, and even BARB employees to undermine the game. The alleged perpetrator was named as Ritual Network, a UK-based company. In response, BARB stated it would pursue "in-person criminal complaints" for charges including espionage and sabotage. The studio also confirmed it had installed enhanced cybersecurity software on employee PCs to monitor activity, keystrokes, and screen behavior, citing the need for protection from this alleged threat.

The Internal Rebellion: A Counter-Narrative from Within

The sabotage theory was immediately contradicted by voices from within the studio’s own recent past. A group of former employees published an open letter that laid the blame for MindsEye’s state squarely at the feet of studio leadership. They pointed to management issues, intense crunch, and mistreatment as the core reasons for the game’s troubled development and poor quality—not a shadowy external plot. This internal counter-narrative was bolstered by a subsequent BBC report that detailed further cultural and operational problems at BARB, painting a picture of a studio struggling with its own processes long before any alleged sabotage could have taken effect. The layoffs of 250+ staff further cemented the perception of a studio dealing with the fallout of its own mismanagement rather than purging malicious actors.

The Unprecedented Retaliation: Weaponizing the Game Itself

Faced with this mounting evidence of internal dysfunction and a rejected conspiracy theory, BARB's leadership doubled down with a retaliation plan as unconventional as its initial allegations. The company announced its intention to immortalize the alleged saboteurs by incorporating their names and the facts of the supposed conspiracy into an "upcoming spy mission" within MindsEye itself. This move is virtually without precedent in the industry. It transforms a commercial video game from a product meant for entertainment into a tool for corporate feuding and public shaming.

The ethical and professional implications are deeply problematic. Is this a piece of clever, meta-commentary, or an unprofessional public vendetta that blurs the lines between creative content and personal grievance? Practically, the plan is fraught with risk. Ritual Network has already denied all allegations, stating it is "not aware of any legitimate legal action." Proceeding with in-game demonization could expose BARB to serious legal challenges, including defamation. It also raises questions about the studio’s priorities: rather than focusing development resources on fixing the broken game players actually bought, effort is being directed toward a mission built on an unproven conspiracy.

Isolation & Pivot: Cutting Ties and Changing Vision

Amid this chaos, BARB’s business relationships and future plans have undergone seismic shifts. A report from Insider Gaming revealed that the studio has ended its publishing deal with IO Interactive for MindsEye, with the decision reportedly coming from BARB’s side. The stated reason is a desire to publish its games internally to gain full control. A casualty of this split is the previously announced MindsEye x Hitman crossover, which is now cancelled.

This isolation coincides with a dramatic pivot in vision for the game itself. BARB’s last stated plan is to transform MindsEye from its failed core premise into a user-generated sandbox via a platform called Arcadia. This raises further questions about the studio’s direction. MindsEye was originally conceived as a proof-of-concept for BARB’s flagship, ambitious project, Everywhere. With MindsEye in ruins and its status as a "proof" thoroughly disproven, the future of the larger Everywhere project now appears more nebulous than ever.

Analysis: Desperate Deflection or Legitimate Scandal?

Weighing the evidence presents a lopsided picture. A clear imbalance exists between the evidence for internal failure and the case for external sabotage. On one side is a specific, financial allegation from the CEO—an allegation firmly denied by the accused party, Ritual Network. On the other is a mountain of corroborated evidence: the universally panned critical reception, the PlayStation refunds, the testimonies of numerous former employees in an open letter and a BBC report, and the subsequent mass layoffs. Industry history shows that while coordinated review bombing by players does happen, credible allegations of a paid, million-euro smear campaign involving journalists and employees from a competitor are exceptionally rare.

The motivations for promoting the sabotage narrative are worth examining. For leadership, it serves several potential purposes: it deflects blame from management decisions, it attempts to unify remaining staff against a common external enemy, and it generates a controversial, us-vs-them marketing angle that might attract a certain audience. It follows a pattern, seen in other industries, where a complex failure is reframed as a simple story of heroic struggle against a malicious foe.

However, the gaming industry has seen similar deflection attempts before. Studios occasionally blame "toxic fans" or "unfair coverage" for failures, but these claims rarely hold up under scrutiny and often further damage the studio’s reputation when the root causes are ultimately revealed to be internal.

Conclusion: A New Precedent for Crisis Management?

The saga of Build A Rocket Boy and MindsEye has evolved into a stark case study in crisis management gone wildly off the rails. While the possibility of external interference in game launches should not be dismissed entirely, the overwhelming weight of documented evidence points squarely toward profound internal dysfunction as the primary cause of this failure. The decision to pursue in-game demonization, rather than demonstrating tangible accountability, introspection, or a focused effort to salvage the purchased product, risks permanently cementing BARB’s reputation for bizarre deflection over competent stewardship.

This saga sets a concerning new precedent. It demonstrates how a studio, facing undeniable commercial and critical failure, can attempt to orchestrate a complete narrative pivot—from introspection to external conspiracy, and from product support to personalized retaliation. As the studio cuts ties with partners and pivots to an uncertain new vision, one must question what future remains for MindsEye, for the enigmatic Everywhere, and most critically, for the studio’s credibility with players, press, and the industry at large. In seeking to create an epic narrative of sabotage, BARB may have written its most compelling story yet—a tragicomedy of self-inflicted wounds and managerial denial that serves as a cautionary tale for an entire industry.