Build a Rocket Boy faces a coordinated push-back from former employees this weekend as the IWGB Game Workers Union organizes a protest outside the studio's Edinburgh office. The action targets what the union calls an "all-expenses-paid playtest day" scheduled for Saturday, July 11, at 11am local time, when the company plans to fly in community members to test new features for MindsEye.
The union, which has also represented fired GTA 6 developers, expects roughly 20 protesters to gather outside BARB's headquarters, including laid-off staff and their supporters. The protest does not include current employees, according to union statements.
At the heart of the grievance is timing. The union views the fan event as tone-deaf given the studio's mass layoffs over the past year, coming on top of broader workplace disputes centered on invasive surveillance practices, union blacklisting, and what workers say was mishandling of redundancies.
BARB responded by framing the event as routine. "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," the studio said in a 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 arrives as BARB continues wrestling with fallout from MindsEye's disastrous launch. Last July, the studio issued redundancy warnings to its roughly 300-person UK workforce after the action adventure title failed to gain traction. BARB later acknowledged performance problems, glitches, and AI behavior bugs plaguing the release.
Leadership blamed external forces for the stumble. Founder Leslie Benzies, who led Grand Theft Auto's design before departing Rockstar, told staff the studio would rebound and suggested saboteurs both inside and outside the company had hampered the game. CEO Mark Gerhard referenced an investigation into what he called "criminal activity" surrounding the launch.
A "Blacklisted" update attempt in 2024 failed to revive player interest. MindsEye peaked at just 48 concurrent players on Steam over a 24-hour span, a staggering figure for a title backed by Take-Two Interactive, Rockstar's parent company.
Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick obliquely referenced BARB's struggles during a May investor conference, noting that success in entertainment had grown increasingly elusive even for seasoned studios. "The folks at Rockstar seem to be able to make these massive hits, and lots of other people have tried, including former Rockstar employees," Zelnick said. "So far, they haven't been able to do it."
MindsEye was originally envisioned as part of Everywhere, an ambitious creation platform Benzies led after leaving Rockstar. BARB pivoted to focus on the game itself, but that bet has left the studio in a precarious position as workers and executives spar over the path forward.
Author Emily Chen: "A studio can't lecture developers about community engagement while simultaneously cutting staff and facing allegations of workplace abuses, this protest was inevitable."
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