Build a Rocket Boy is adding a new mission to MindsEye that will serve as a vehicle for presenting what CEO Mark Gerhard describes as evidence of sabotage against the game and studio.
The mission, titled Blacklist, will feature a female playable character and is designed partly to share what Gerhard calls proof of the alleged sabotage with players. In previous statements, Gerhard indicated the studio also plans to name individuals involved in what he claims was the coordinated attack on the game.
"Let's have some fun with it," Gerhard said in remarks to press. "Let's tell the community the story before it even plays out in court. We're storytellers, we're game makers."
Gerhard has spent the past year alleging that MindsEye fell victim to a "concerted effort" by internal and external actors to damage the game's reputation. He claims saboteurs paid influencers or deployed spam bots to attack the title on social media platforms. Former publisher IO Interactive has disputed these allegations, and Gerhard has not publicly presented detailed evidence supporting his claims.
According to Gerhard, authorities in the United States and United Kingdom are investigating what he characterizes as criminal corporate espionage. He told GamesBeat that the studio has conducted "quite thorough investigations" and identified parties involved, with the matter now in the hands of law enforcement.
"We've got very strong evidence of this," Gerhard said. "They're assisting us with this investigation, but it's also in their hands now. We'll just let the natural course of justice take its path."
The studio's public messaging has shifted somewhat on responsibility for MindsEye's troubled launch. While Gerhard attributes much of the game's poor reception to sabotage, he acknowledges that technical failures—bugs, crashes, and instability—fall on the studio itself.
"We had, without doubt, the worst launch in history," Gerhard said. "There are many reasons for that." He framed the upcoming mission and relaunch effort as the beginning of a recovery phase now that what he views as external interference has ceased.
Gerhard noted that Leslie Benzies, who previously worked as a producer on Grand Theft Auto 5 and serves as studio head, has returned from an extended leave taken after launch. Despite this addition of leadership capacity, Gerhard suggested further staff reductions may still occur, following two earlier rounds of layoffs.
MindsEye currently sits at a 39 Metacritic score with a 2.6 user rating. Steam users have given it mixed reviews, and the game had a small concurrent player count at the time of reporting. Build a Rocket Boy took over full publishing duties from IO Interactive this month, which also resulted in the cancellation of a planned Hitman crossover event.
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