- MindsEye developer Build A Rocket Boy may be heading toward a shutdown following another round of layoffs.
- BARB’s Talent Acquisition Partner said he'll see the studio “through the very end” following the layoffs, hinting at an imminent shutdown.
- However, the studio has yet to comment on the layoffs or a potential shutdown.
MindsEye developer Build A Rocket Boy might be preparing to shut down, with the company laying off multiple developers, according to posts from affected employees on LinkedIn today, September 16, 2026.
Following the disastrous launch of MindsEye in June last year, the studio has faced multiple rounds of layoffs this year. Michaela Emslie, release manager at Build a Rocket Boy, wrote on LinkedIn, “After four years at Build a Rocket Boy, I’ve unfortunately been given my redundancy notice along with some of my fellow colleagues”.
Speaking of colleagues, BARB Principal Talent Acquisition Partner Dan Hawkins’ statement may have hinted that the MindsEye developer’s shutdown is imminent.
“With a very heavy heart, I raise my green banner, along with the rest of my colleagues at Build a Rocket Boy. I will be seeing BARB through till the very end, helping wrap things up here in the HR department,” wrote Hawkins.
Former Rockstar North president Leslie Benzies envisioned MindsEye’s Everywhere platform as a “Roblox for adults” to push user-generated content. Unfortunately, that didn’t work out, but the MindsEye developers kept updating the single-player mode, adding features like multiplayer racing and more user-generated content.
Earlier this year, the studio attempted to relaunch MindsEye with the new Blacklisted update, but laid off more than 150 employees in the following months. At the same time, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick mocked MindsEye devs for trying to copy GTA.
Players considered MindsEye to be one of the worst games of 2025, and it was a buggy, unplayable mess at launch. Further updates added little content for players to keep coming back to, especially with GTA 6 on the horizon, and now it seems like the whole studio will shut down.
Even 007 First Light developers IO Interactive and Build A Rocket Boy officially ended their publishing partnership for MindsEye on March 16, 2026. So, that may have been a sign of things to come. However, the MindsEye developer has yet to comment on the layoffs or confirm a shutdown.
