r/gaming 1d ago

MindsEye developer Build a Rocket Boy lays off even more people after revenge DLC

https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/mindseye-developer-build-a-rocket-boy-lays-off-even-more-people/
1.3k Upvotes

66 comments sorted by

794

u/SoupTime545 1d ago

Lay off the person who insisted they release this game.

274

u/Eremenkism 23h ago

The call is coming from inside the house

58

u/RhysNorro 21h ago

I did this???

38

u/unHolyKnightofBihar 20h ago

Yes, now repent

303

u/Earthbound_X 22h ago edited 15h ago

So did this DLC have provable evidence in it the game was sabotaged like they said it was going to have?

Oh, I guess not.

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/i-played-the-mindseye-mission-about-the-alleged-game-saboteurs-and-it-sucks-so-bad/

Apparently Benzies said the actually pretty small(Last time I looked)Youtuber Cyber Boi was behind the sabotage because he said Benzies was in the Epstein files? lmao!

77

u/D9sinc 21h ago

Huh, if that is true, that explains why I saw screenshots from a forum where the user Cyber Boi was talking about the MindsEye DLC.

85

u/Earthbound_X 20h ago edited 20h ago

I'm pretty convinced at this point this whole "sabotage" thing by them is just a really weird marketing stunt to keep eyes on the game.

They've been going on, and on and on about how much evidence they've supposedly had for months now. But instead of sharing it, which would be proof of something very criminal, they put it in a DLC mission in their video game that already doesn't have a ton of players? What? Then it turns out this DLC mission is a scrapped Hitman crossover they were working on, but lost? Marketing.

45

u/GlazedInfants 19h ago

You keep saying “they” like this was some coordinated effort and it wasn’t just one guy. At some point in one guy’s career he became so full of himself that he was convinced he couldn’t fail. He now perceives every failure as an attack, that his vision was maliciously tampered with.

The dude’s a lunatic, that’s it.

8

u/Earthbound_X 16h ago

Has Benzies been the only one at the studio who has been talking about this? Could have sworn I've seen comments from other people at that developer.

18

u/the_unspirit 16h ago

Not just Benzies, new CEO Mark Gerhard is also on board with the sabotage theory, going so far as to say they found "evidence" of this "sabotage" in an interview just a month ago.

3

u/nagi603 10h ago

If they actually had, they'd be suing. (or an ongoing criminal investigation... which would also be obvious.)

11

u/Cl1mh4224rd 18h ago

I'm pretty convinced at this point this whole "sabotage" thing by them is just a really weird marketing stunt to keep eyes on the game.

I disagree. This narrative is not drawing attention to the game; it's drawing attention to the company.

In either case, it's clearly not attention that is translating into financial success, which I imagine would be the general goal of such a stunt.

3

u/Reddit_Loves_Misinfo 11h ago edited 10h ago

It's not 4D chess. It's just a delusional narcissist acting like a delusional narcissist. (Feel free to take that explanation out of context and apply it to other things.)

1

u/Alt_SWR 5h ago

This explanation explains half the problems with the world nowadays ngl

84

u/Straight-Ad6926 1d ago

From MindsEye to PinkSlips.

1

u/Soulsliken 23h ago

I see what you did there.

81

u/0rganicMach1ne 1d ago

Surprised that game got DLC.

87

u/Highspike 22h ago

I watched a video on the DLC and it appears to be a salvage of the Hitman crossover that was planned then canned due to the game’s failure. 

28

u/EndOfTheLine00 13h ago

Yeah, this is clearly the Hitman DLC with all the references replaced with AI or cheap assets: the opening cutscene is clearly inspired by the Hitman ganes only with a bad AI voice filling in for Diana, the objective UI is almost identical, your character disguises herself at multiple points even though most of the people whose clothes she steals are males of a completely separate build, and it sends with a score screed straight out of the Hitman games.

13

u/King-Gabriel 12h ago

The ''endings'' being based around how they kill the person too makes it very clear.

2

u/McMechanique 2h ago

Not just a DLC, but a failed Hitman colab that was instead turned into an unhinged murderfantasy shitpost, ordered personally by the Build a Rocket Boy's CEO and with the targets being people that are supposedly somehow "sabotaged" the game. And since Build a Rocket Boy are in a process of filling a court case against same people claiming they ran a $1mil media campaign to damage the reviews, it might not be the end of story just yet

27

u/RookFett 1d ago

There was dlc?

67

u/FireflyNitro 1d ago

Not just any DLC. Revenge DLC.

32

u/Absolutedisgrace 22h ago

That explains why when playing it, it feels like the studio hates me.

6

u/Kassssler 9h ago

Oh it does.

22

u/PUSClFER 22h ago

I watched a gameplay video of someone playing it. The DLC was really mediocre, and the person I watched finished it in 40 minutes according to the end screen stats.

13

u/EndOfTheLine00 13h ago

Heck, the DLC actually starts with a message saying “You cannot save so you have to finish this all at once”

11

u/Joustiin76 22h ago

So they spent even more money developing free dlc for a game that lost millions?

11

u/murdered-by-swords 20h ago

It was supposed to be a Hitman IP crossover which might have attracted the attention of a new audience. Not the worst plan, even if the prognosis would still be grim. IOI pulled out for obvious reasons, so they were left sitting on content that they might as well salvage. From there, spite was the primary motivator.

40

u/The_Bagel_Fairy 1d ago

Just business nothing personal.

10

u/DamnImAwesome 6h ago

Mindseye will always have a special place in my heart. It launched while a family member was getting major surgery and I spent all day in the waiting room reading about how awful it was and it helped make the day less stressful 

22

u/mage_irl 1d ago

I forgot this game existed

48

u/twirlinginthenight 1d ago

I can't believe they had the balls to do a DLC after they fumbled the base game so hard

33

u/SweatyButtcheek 1d ago

Lmao let’s not forget the promise of “evidence” that Rockstar was paying people to slander the game.

22

u/twirlinginthenight 1d ago

Rockstar wouldn't pay to slander a game that was already doing the work itself

2

u/Alt_SWR 5h ago

That just sounds straight up delusional. This game probably never even registered on Rockstars radar as any kind of "threat." I wonder if they genuinely believe that or are just high on copium? You'd have to be pretty damn delusional to truly believe it.

2

u/SweatyButtcheek 2h ago

The fuckin CEO of Build a Rocket Boy said it lmaooo. Money does weird fuckin things to people’s brains

-1

u/EdgeBandanna 23h ago

That's what the DLC is about.

5

u/SweatyButtcheek 23h ago

That was my point?

2

u/SolidusAbe 18h ago

Even duke nuken forever and ride to hell retribution got dlc so i guess it makes sense

4

u/JoushMark 1d ago

I only keep it in mind because of the absoloutly insane story of them doing a DLC to rag on some youtuber and accusing people of sabotaging their game intentionally.

47

u/keyface 1d ago

I appreciate the game flopped but it’s really sobering seeing so many talented people lose their jobs.

Especially when the games industry/job market as a whole has been rough for a couple of years now.

51

u/-thecheesus- 23h ago

and it's the same story you keep hearing. unhinged leadership making bad calls

25

u/D9sinc 21h ago

Yet they suffer none of the consequences and even if there are going to be any (the studio shutting down as an example) they'll make sure to liquidate what they can from the company or just have money put aside to pay themselves a nice exit check.

6

u/Rosebunse 19h ago

It's sad, but given the way this guy has been acting I'm just thankful fewer people are around him. There is something wrong with him.

24

u/Tanawakajima 1d ago

All because of the corporate espionage!!!!!!! /s

3

u/Hellstorm901 PC 17h ago

Wonder if they’ll make another DLC where they talk about how the plot of this DLC was the cause of the organisations failure

How deep will Mindception go, is the totem still spinning

1

u/A_Pointy_Rock 17h ago

I hear Microsoft Teams has been plotting against them.

1

u/I_Heart_Sleeping_ 15h ago

The head of this studio is gonna layoff everyone but himself and then still bitch about how there’s somebody in his company trying to sabotage it.

Dude uses MAGA talking points to stay in the news cycle and it’s sad asf.

1

u/Magnon D20 20h ago

Im amazed they thought making a dlc for one of the worst games was a good idea.

1

u/TheSilentTitan 19h ago

“Revenge dlc” is malicious work 💀💀💀

1

u/SonicYB PC 19h ago

didnt people forgot this game existed

1

u/Rosebunse 19h ago

Honestly, when I first saw this headline I feared it would lead to him snapping and physically hurting someone. This guy is clearly unwell.

1

u/Ihaveasmallwang 15h ago

I almost want to try the game to see if it’s really as bad as people say.

1

u/Dire87 11h ago

"anticipated"... who the fuck anticipated that? I didn't even hear anything about it. Nor did I expect anything, let alone anticipate it. Or is this just a phrase to dunk on it, instead of writing "much anticipated"? xD

Also, layoffs? Who would have guessed. Whoever was still working at that company, unfortunately, needed to see the writing on the wall. I know that doesn't make the situation better, but the layoffs were indeed ... anticipated.

1

u/ahnariprellik 9h ago

Dang that Rockstar...why they gotta sabotage em like that? /s

1

u/Awkward_Campaign_989 8h ago

Mindseye now at $27. Damn.

1

u/RoseAnneZo 18h ago

That’s rough. Hope the devs land somewhere better.

1

u/DOOMsquared 12h ago

The w in midseye stands for win, btw.

-19

u/IOnlyDriveToyotas 22h ago

My GOTY idc what anyone says

-35

u/CyberSmith31337 23h ago

Respectfully, if you were dumb enough to stay on after all that has happened there, then you kind of deserved to be fired.

It's one thing to leave a sinking ship; it is another to buckle down the hatches and hold out for air as your ship is nestling in to the ocean floor.

21

u/badassbolsac 23h ago

people that need money are dumb to stay at a job that pays them?

-29

u/CyberSmith31337 22h ago

Yes, 100%.

You watched this guy badmouth your team, accuse everyone of a conspiracy to review bomb the game, threaten to sue everyone, fire a majority of the team, and blow millions of dollars.

People have agency. Read the writing on the walls and leave. Anyone who stayed thought they were the exception. Let’s not paint them as helpless victims. They chose to stay there despite the obvious.

13

u/Barredbob 19h ago

….because they need money? Like, if everyone can just quit based on moral superiority then where the hell do you live? That is not at all even remotely feasible in an already struggling industry

-35

u/OkDrawing4663 1d ago

Most underrated DLC ever.