Build a Rocket Boy, the studio behind the troubled space sim MindsEye, has laid off roughly 170 employees in what marks its third major reduction in less than a year. The cuts leave the developer with approximately 80 staff remaining, according to reports.
The studio has not made an official announcement, but multiple Build a Rocket Boy employees have confirmed their departures on LinkedIn and Discord. Senior game designer James Tyler, audio designer Tom Cross, and several community team members publicly acknowledged losing their jobs this week.
MindsEye launched in June 2025 to a brutal reception. A round of layoffs followed in July, then again in March of this year. After the initial cuts, remaining staff published an open letter to management condemning what they called "one of the worst video game launches this decade" and demanding change at the company.
The timing adds another layer of chaos to Build a Rocket Boy's struggle. Just days before this layoff announcement, the studio released a new mission called "Blacklisted" through MindsEye's user-generated content platform Arcadia. The update was framed as the beginning of a recovery push for the game, and management had suggested it would include evidence that the studio and game had been sabotaged before the disastrous launch.
Steam concurrent player counts for MindsEye have cratered to single digits, with six players recorded at the time of reporting. Console figures remain unavailable.
Author Emily Chen: "Three layoff rounds in twelve months tells you everything you need to know about the state of Build a Rocket Boy, and the carnage keeps compounding just as they attempt a public turnaround."
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