Around 300 UK-based employees at Build A Rocket Boy have reportedly received “at-risk of redundancy” emails following the announcement of layoffs last week.
As reported by IGN, sources alleged that these emails were also sent to staff at PlayFusion, which Build A Rocket Boy acquired last year for an undisclosed sum.
Sources also claimed that Build A Rocket Boy CEO Leslie Benzies addressed staff in a “brief video call” earlier this week, suggesting an alleged “relaunch” of MindsEye and that the “studio and game’s struggles” were due to “internal and external saboteurs”.
GamesIndustry.biz has contacted Build A Rocket Boy for further clarification.
Co-CEO Mark Gerhard previously claimed there was a “concerted effort” by some to “trash” Build A Rocket Boy and MindsEye during a Q&A on the official MindsEye Discord, as reviewed by IGN.
“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,” wrote Gerhard. “Its [sic] pretty easy to see the bots and the repeated replies to any content that we put out.”
Last week, Build A Rocket Boy confirmed reports of layoffs in a statement to GamesIndustry.biz.
“We have made the painful decision to notify our hardworking team of some internal changes at Build A Rocket Boy,” it said. “While we are working to reassign roles for as many of those impacted by these changes as possible, sadly we are initiating a formal consultation process that may result in redundancies.
“This decision has not been made lightly, and we are committed to handling this process with transparency, fairness, and respect to all our employees. We will provide details to the team in the coming weeks.”