Scandal Brewing at Former GTA Producer’s Studio — Build a Rocket Boy Employees Speak Out
Around a hundred current and former employees of Build a Rocket Boy, the studio founded by former Rockstar North president Leslie Benzies, have come forward with an open letter accusing the company’s leadership of mistreating staff, mismanagement, and poor working conditions. The letter, published by the IWGB Game Workers union, is addressed directly to Benzies and co-CEO Mark Gerhard.
According to the signatories, following the unsuccessful launch of MindsEye, the company laid off roughly 250–300 employees, including those who had been working on the project since its inception. The letter claims that these layoffs were the result of systemic management failures and a refusal by leadership to listen to the team, ultimately leading to “one of the worst video game launches of the decade.”
The employees also cited a lack of transparency, poor communication, and constant process changes made without consulting the staff.
“Information has been sparse and vague, with you often making radical changes to the way we worked with little or no input from those affected,” the letter states.
One of the most pressing issues highlighted was mandatory overtime. In the four months leading up to the release of MindsEye, management required every employee to work an additional eight hours per week. Although overtime was compensated with seven hours of time off for every eight worked, many staff members reported that they were unable to use this time due to ongoing “urgent tasks,” even after the game launched.
The letter also describes a catastrophic handling of layoffs. Employees report receiving incorrect notices, being assigned to the wrong teams, and being given the wrong notice periods, which, according to the letter, may have resulted in unlawful dismissals.
The employees demand from Build a Rocket Boy’s leadership:
- Public apologies and fair compensation for those laid off;
- The option for affected employees to either serve their notice period or receive Payment in Lieu of Notice (PILON);
- Recognition of the IWGB as an official union and meaningful improvements to internal processes;
- The involvement of third-party organizations to oversee future layoffs and prevent unfair treatment.
“You often refer to your employees as “family”. But we ask you to consider; is this really how you treat your own?” the letter concludes, directed at Benzies and Gerhard.
Build a Rocket Boy’s leadership has not commented on the open letter.
MindsEye, released in June, has received predominantly negative reviews from both players and critics. Players complained about technical issues, performance drops, an empty open world, and repetitive missions.
Build a Rocket Boy was founded by Leslie Benzies, previously president of Rockstar North and producer of the Grand Theft Auto series. He co-leads the studio alongside Mark Gerhard. In July, Benzies blamed saboteurs for the project’s failure and promised to relaunch the game.