In late January 2026, Build a Rocket Boy co-CEO Mark Gerhard held an internal meeting with employees where he made extraordinary claims about MindsEye's failure.
According to reporting by Insider Gaming, Gerhard told staff they've "caught the guys who've been sabotaging MindsEye." What followed was an explosive accusation: a coordinated conspiracy worth over €1 million, orchestrated by a "very big American company" (though "probably not the company you're thinking of"), executed through a UK-based company described as "a bunch of gangsters," involving influencers, journalists, and allegedly some of their own employees.
No public evidence has been presented. No arrests have been made. No lawsuits have been filed publicly as of this writing.
The Allegations: A €1 Million Conspiracy
According to Gerhard's claims as reported by Insider Gaming, the conspiracy has three key components:
The Structure
- Orchestrated by "a very big American company" (though "probably not the company you're thinking of")
- Executed through UK-based company 'Ritual Network,' described by Gerhard as "a bunch of gangsters"
- Budget: Over €1 million spent in 2025
The Alleged Participants
- Multiple influencers, including 'Cyberboi' (whom Gerhard recently threatened with a Cease and Desist via Discord)
- Three journalists (unnamed)
- Build a Rocket Boy employees
The Promised Action
- Criminal complaints for "espionage, sabotage, and criminal interference"
- All alleged conspirators "will all be served in person, shortly"
The Timeline of Blame: From Pre-Launch Excuses to Multi-Million Euro Conspiracies
This isn't the first time Build a Rocket Boy leadership has blamed external forces for MindsEye's problems. The pattern of external scapegoating tells a story all its own:
May 27, 2025 (two weeks before launch): Gerhard claimed in a Discord Q&A that negative pre-release coverage was part of a "paid campaign by a third-party" to trash the game and studio.
July 2025 (one month after launch): Leslie Benzies told employees during an all-hands call that "internal and external forces" were sabotaging the project, promising to "root out saboteurs" within the company. He stated: "I find it disgusting that anyone could sit amongst us, behave like this and continue to work here."
When the BBC asked Build a Rocket Boy for evidence or clarification on those sabotage claims, the studio provided neither.
One week after Benzies' July remarks, nearly 300 employees received redundancy notices.
January 2026: Gerhard's €1 million conspiracy theories emerge in an internal meeting—the third major blame-shifting narrative in nine months.
What Actually Happened to MindsEye: The Documented Facts
Development Issues (Per BBC Investigation, Seven Employee Interviews)
Former employee Jamie: "Leslie [Benzies] never decided what game he wanted to make. There was no coherent direction."
The "Leslie ticket" system took absolute priority over planned work. Ben Newbon, former lead data analyst: "It didn't matter what else you were doing... The Leslie ticket had to be taken care of."
One developer: "We didn't really know what kind of game we were making until the very last minute."
Development Issues (Per Decode Investigation, Seven Employees and Internal Documents)
- Too much ambition
- Excessive control from leadership
- False promises about scope and timeline
- No clear vision until late in development
The Crunch Period
Between February and May 2025, most staff worked extensive unpaid overtime. The studio promised time in lieu after release, which never materialized.
Launch Disaster (June 10, 2025)
- Severe bugs: Pedestrians walking on air, graphical glitches, game-breaking bugs, memory leaks affecting ~10% of players
- Metacritic: 28/100 (lowest score of any 2025 game, based on 32 critic reviews)
- User score: 2.5/10
- PlayStation refunds: Issued within days
- Streamer instructions: Twitch streamer CohhCarnage was instructed by the studio to cancel his planned launch-day stream
Sales Numbers
- Internal projections: 500,000 PC sales in first month
- Actual sales: ~160,000 units total across all platforms (per Decode sources with access to internal data)
- Revenue: Approximately $8-10 million against £233 million investment
Aftermath
- July 2025: Nearly 300 employees laid off (~75% of workforce)
- October 10, 2025: 93 former employees signed open letter condemning leadership for systemic mistreatment, mismanagement, and mishandling of redundancy process
- Same day: Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain sued Build a Rocket Boy for mishandling layoffs
The Evidence Question: Where Are the Court Filings?
As of publication, no public evidence has been presented for the conspiracy claims. No criminal charges have been filed publicly. No named defendants. No court documents. No arrests.
The pattern is consistent: allegations made in internal meetings and Discord, but no legal action that would require presenting evidence in court.
Build a Rocket Boy did not respond to the BBC's request for evidence regarding the July 2025 sabotage claims.
What to Watch For
If the conspiracy claims are accurate, the following should occur soon:
- Criminal charges filed against Ritual Network
- Lawsuits against named journalists and influencers
- Public court filings with evidence
- Arrests or indictments
- Official statements from law enforcement
If these don't materialize, questions about the veracity of the claims will intensify.
Analysis: The Conspiracy Theory Doesn't Add Up
The conspiracy claims don't pass scrutiny—not because conspiracies never happen, but because criminal conspicies involving €1 million require law enforcement intervention and court evidence, not internal meeting accusations.
Here's why the narrative fails:
1. Criminal charges require evidence that can survive court scrutiny. Allegations in meetings don't. If you have proof of €1M+ criminal sabotage involving American corporations, UK "gangsters," paid journalists, and corrupted employees, you go to police and prosecutors—not employee video calls.
2. The documented explanation is more plausible than the alleged conspiracy. Seven employees told the BBC there was no clear vision. Seven employees told Decode the same thing. The game scored 28/100. PlayStation issued refunds within days. Concurrent players dropped below 20 within a month. That doesn't require conspiracy—just mismanagement.
3. Saboteurs don't work unpaid overtime to fix what they're allegedly destroying. If your own employees were paid to sabotage the game, why did they work unpaid overtime for months trying to fix it? That's not how sabotage works. That's how dedicated developers respond when leadership can't decide what game they're building.
4. The timeline suggests deflection, not prosecution. Blame critics in May. Blame saboteurs in July. Claim a €1M conspiracy in January. But never file actual lawsuits with evidence. That pattern suggests looking for scapegoats, not actually pursuing criminals.
5. The Cyberboi threat is retaliation for criticism, not evidence of wrongdoing. Threatening an influencer with a Cease and Desist via Discord, then claiming they're part of a criminal conspiracy, looks like retaliation for criticism. It doesn't look like prosecution of actual crimes.
The Broader Context: £233M Invested, ~£10M Returned
MindsEye's failure represents one of gaming's most expensive disasters:
- £233 million invested (more than GTA V's estimated £170M development budget)
- 8 years of development
- 400+ employees at peak
- Returns: ~£10 million in sales
The studio has released numerous patches since launch and promises a roadmap including new missions, multiplayer features, and additional content. Whether the game can recover remains uncertain.
For context: CD Projekt Red successfully rehabilitated Cyberpunk 2077 after a disastrous launch, but had significant goodwill from The Witcher 3. Hello Games redeemed No Man's Sky through years of silent work after accepting responsibility. Both situations differed significantly from Build a Rocket Boy's approach.
My Assessment
The conspiracy theory doesn't add up.
If you have evidence of criminal espionage involving €1 million and multiple co-conspirators, you pick up the phone and call the police. You don't announce it in an employee meeting like a villain revealing their master plan. Criminal charges require evidence that survives court scrutiny—not allegations that survive the company Slack channel.
The question isn't whether someone criticized MindsEye unfairly—it's whether a €1M+ conspiracy involving American corporations, UK "gangsters," paid journalists, and corrupted employees is more plausible than the documented explanation: a £233M project that never figured out what it wanted to be, led by someone who ignored 400+ developers for eight years.
Seven employees told the BBC there was no clear vision. Seven employees told Decode the same thing. The game scored 28/100. PlayStation issued refunds. Concurrent players dropped below 20 within a month. Occam's razor suggests mismanagement, not masterminds.
And here's the part that should make anyone skeptical: if your own employees were paid to sabotage the game, why did they work unpaid overtime for months trying to save it? Saboteurs aren't known for their dedication to fixing what they're allegedly destroying.
The timeline tells its own story. Blame critics in May. Blame saboteurs in July. Blame a €1M international conspiracy in January. But never file a single lawsuit with actual evidence. That's not prosecution. That's performance.
Threatening a YouTuber with a Cease and Desist via Discord, then claiming they're part of a criminal conspiracy, has a name. It's called "shooting the messenger and then blaming the bullet."
If I'm wrong, the arrests and court filings will prove it. Until then, this reads like the same blame-shifting that's characterized Build a Rocket Boy since June. Everyone's responsible except the people who spent £233 million building a game that PlayStation started refunding within a week.
What Comes Next
The gaming industry will be watching. If Build a Rocket Boy files criminal complaints and court proceedings begin, the narrative changes. If nothing materializes—no arrests, no lawsuits, no evidence presented publicly—it reinforces the existing perception: leadership that blames external forces rather than accepting responsibility for documented mismanagement.
That perception, more than any conspiracy, may be what truly damages Build a Rocket Boy's future.
Read the Full Investigation
This is just the latest development. For the complete breakdown of MindsEye's collapse, including employee testimony, financial analysis, and the full timeline from development chaos to mass layoffs—read my comprehensive investigation here.
That piece covers:
- The "Leslie ticket" system and development dysfunction
- Unpaid overtime and broken promises
- Complete launch disaster breakdown
- Financial analysis: £233M spent vs. £10M returned
- The 93-employee open letter
- Union lawsuit details
- Why Benzies' GTA pedigree didn't translate to solo leadership
Sources: Insider Gaming (January 2026 internal meeting), BBC investigative reporting (October 2025), Decode employee interviews, PC Gamer, Metacritic, IGN
Note: All conspiracy allegations are Mark Gerhard's claims as reported by Insider Gaming. Claims about development dysfunction, unpaid overtime, and mismanagement come from employee testimony to BBC and Decode, the 93-employee open letter, and union lawsuit.
