MindsEye boss claims game’s negative reaction ahead of release has been paid for in “concerted effort” against studio

The co-CEO of MindsEye developer Build a Rocket Boy has suggested the game’s negative reaction so far has been paid for in a “concerted effort” against the studio ahead of its release.

MindsEye is an upcoming action-adventure thriller from former GTA producer Leslie Benzies, which is being published by Hitman studio IO Interactive. It is set for release on 10th June, across PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC.

A new trailer was released last night, highlighting some of the features coming to the game such as the ability for players to create their own missions using the in-game creation system. You can check it out below.

However, despite the trailers and having veteran developers working at the studio, the reaction to MindsEye has so far been underwhelming. A bulleted rundown listing issues with the game, which was shared online earlier this week, called MindsEye a “broken mess, filled with bugs” and enemy encounters that “lacked depth”.

Now, Build a Rocket Boy’s co-CEO has claimed that there is a reason MindsEye is getting negative feedback – it’s because people are being paid to do so. In an exchange on the MindsEye Discord server, Mark Gerhard was asked if he believes “all the people who reacted negatively were financed by someone”, to which he replied: “100 percent.”

When another user in the chat highlighted Gerhard’s claims were rather unexpected, the studio exec replied: “Not wild when it’s true…..”

In another reply, the studio exec added it “doesn’t take much to guess who” with an accompanying laughing emoji, though he didn’t elaborate on this point further at the time. However, when confronted about the matter further, Gerhard said there has been a “concerted effort” involved regarding criticism around the game and the studio.

Wrote Gerhard: “I just said that there is a concerted effort by some people that don’t want to see Leslie or Build A Rocket Boy to be successful that are making a concerted effort to trash the game and the studio. It’s pretty easy to see the bots and the repeated replies to any content that we put out.”

Eurogamer contacted Build a Rocket Boy for comment on Gerhard’s claims, however neither the studio or publisher IOI was able to say more at this time.

For more on MindsEye, our Chris spoke to assistant game director Adam Whiting earlier this year. Be sure to check out his feature: MindsEye, from former Rockstar developers, wants to revive the tight, linear, cinematic blockbuster game.