Summary
- MindsEye CEO, Leslie Benzies blames “internal and external saboteurs” for the game’s failure.
- Roughly 300 staff from Build A Rocket Boy and PlayFusion face layoffs.
- The game launched with heavy bugs, poor reviews, and refunds from PlayStation.
MindsEye CEO, Leslie Benzies, Addresses Staff After the Disastrous Launch
After the rocky release of MindsEye, studio head Leslie Benzies, known for his leadership on GTA V, finally broke his silence.
According to a new report by IGN, Benzies held a call with staff this week, blaming both “internal and external saboteurs” for the game’s failure.
The comment comes amid mass layoffs reportedly affecting around 300 staff from Build A Rocket Boy and its acquired studio PlayFusion. Emails have already been sent to affected employees, marking them as at risk.
These developments follow a string of bad news for the studio, which recently apologised to fans and said they were “heartbroken” over the release issues, promising to improve the experience.
Despite the mess surrounding MindsEye, Benzies told staff the game will “relaunch” when it’s ready, and that they’ll use player feedback to guide improvements. It’s unclear when or how that will happen.
Refunds, Negative Reviews, and Staff Frustration
MindsEye was the studio’s first major release and was meant to be the spotlight project, with assistant game director Adam Whiting saying before launch that “most of the team was always focused on MindsEye.” Unfortunately, that focus didn’t pay off as expected.
Since launching on June 10, MindsEye has been widely criticized for bugs and technical problems. PlayStation even issued refunds to players—a move rarely seen outside of major disasters like Cyberpunk 2077.
On Steam, user reviews are overwhelmingly negative, with only 37% of nearly 1,900 reviews marked as positive.
Moreover, MindsEye currently sits at a dreadful 38 on Metacritic for PC and an even lower 28 for PS5—making it the worst-rated game of 2024 so far.
Interestingly, even those involved in the game have publicly criticised its state. Actor Alex Hernandez, who plays lead character Jason Diaz, voiced his disappointment in an interview, saying: “Why would you, as a company, release something that seemed to not be ready? I don’t care if it’s your first or hundredth game—if it’s glitchy, it’s glitchy.”
Overall, the future of MindsEye still looks uncertain, and to relaunch the game, developers will need to work very hard.
