Following layoffs from a couple of months ago, several now-former employees of MindsEye developer Build a Rocket Boy have planned a protest outside of the studio’s office in Edinburgh, Scotland. The reason behind this protest, which will take place on July 11th at 11am local time, is due to an event described as being an “all-expenses-paid playtest day.”
The event is being hosted by Build a Rocket Boy, and has been described as being part of the studio’s commitment to its Arcadia platform. In a statement to IGN, the studio said that the community-oriented event will invite creators on Arcadia together to try out some of the new features being made for it, and to provide direct feedback.
“This Saturday we’re hosting a community event as part of our ongoing commitment to our game creation system, Arcadia, and the creators who have supported us from the very beginning,” said the studio in its statement. Bringing creators together to experience new features first-hand and share direct feedback is a very well-established part of game development, and that feedback is our most important input.”
The protest is being hosted by the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB), and its reason largely revolves around the fact that Build a Rocket Boy is hosting such an event despite having recently undergone major layoffs. Around 20 participants are expected at the protest, which will include former workers of the studio and their supporters. Current studio staff is not expected to join the protest.
Back in May, Build a Rocket Boy was hit by layoffs affecting 170 of its employees, bringing down the studio’s overall headcount to around 80 workers. The negative critical reception of MindsEye has been one of the biggest reasons behind the studio’s misfortunes, with CEO Mark Gerhard blaming “factors beyond normal operational challenges and a competitive environment.”
Gerhard also went on to blame a supposed conspiracy against the studio with what he has described as “overwhelming evidence of organized espionage and corporate sabotage affecting MindsEye.”
Several former employees have spoken out against the studio’s various practices, including industry veteran and MindsEye lead animator Chris Wilson. “Sometimes traumatic experiences can bring people closer, right? But people… they’re embarrassed about it. People don’t want to talk about it. They don’t want to say that they were part of the project or worked there,” he said.
He also accused the studio of promoting a working culture based on the idea of crunch. He said that the cinematics team, for example, had been in crunch from June 2025 “until a good few months later” without being appropriately paid.
“Eight hours was the minimum requirement, but people were doing way more for sure,” Wilson said. “I was doing way over an additional eight hours a week…there were people who were certainly not appreciative of having to work those extra hours, but a lot of people just had to bite the bullet. I think Cinematics were crunching for somewhere between six to nine months. Some people racked up a lot of extra hours, and that’s outside of the general day-to-day stuff. People were already doing extra hours, and then they introduced the crunch as well.”
