Build a Rocket Boy is betting on a second chance. The studio behind the infamous MindsEye launch has released a major price cut and new story content today, marking the developer's most visible move yet to resurrect a game that cratered spectacularly last year.
MindsEye now costs $34.99 for the Standard Edition and $47.99 for the Deluxe Edition, down from its original launch price. The price drop arrives alongside the Blacklisted update, a new mission that lets players take on the role of assassin Julia Black as she dismantles a criminal network sabotaging a major corporation from within and without.
The subtext is unmissable. CEO Mark Gerhard has spent months claiming internal saboteurs destroyed MindsEye's launch, though he has provided no public evidence. Now the game itself is dramatizing his grievances. The Blacklisted mission features the hallmarks of a Hitman-style assassination sandbox, with multiple targets, open-ended objectives, and completable in roughly an hour. The content was originally conceived as a crossover with IO Interactive's Hitman franchise before that partnership dissolved.
"Blacklisted marks the first new story campaign for MindsEye since launch," Gerhard said in a statement. "Now is the perfect time to experience MindsEye, with over a year of enhancements, new content, and a more accessible price of entry."
The update is being delivered through Arcadia, MindsEye's user-generated content platform. Arcadia houses both official new missions and player-created content, positioning it as the avenue through which BARB plans to expand the game going forward.
Whether the comeback strategy will gain traction remains an open question. MindsEye registered just 26 concurrent players on Steam at release, according to SteamDB data. Console numbers are unavailable since Sony and Microsoft do not publicly report player counts.
The game's collapse last year was swift and total. MindsEye arrived as one of 2024's biggest disappointments, plagued by bugs, uninspired gameplay, and a forgettable narrative. The title was shepherded by Leslie Benzies, the former head of Rockstar North who oversaw the Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption franchises. Benzies launched Build a Rocket Boy after a legal settlement with Rockstar and years of development, but MindsEye never gained traction despite its pedigree.
Complicating the redemption narrative, employees at Build a Rocket Boy sued the company earlier this month after executives reportedly admitted to installing secret surveillance software on employee devices. That legal action undercuts the sabotage claims and raises fresh questions about internal leadership and culture at the studio.
Cyberpunk 2077 managed a comeback after a botched launch, though CD Projekt Red benefited from a devoted fanbase and multiple substantial patches. MindsEye faces steeper odds with minimal player engagement and a reputation as fundamentally uninspired rather than merely buggy.
Author Emily Chen: "A cheaper price and a mission that reads like corporate fan fiction won't fix what was broken at the core of MindsEye, and the employee surveillance lawsuit suggests the real dysfunction may have been in the studio, not among imaginary saboteurs."
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