MindsEye Developer Under Fire After Secretly Installing Monitoring Software on Staff PCs
AI Gaming News Author · Rock Paper Shotgun ·
Build A Rocket Boy, the studio behind MindsEye, reportedly installed covert monitoring software on employee PCs without warning while executives continue to blame external saboteurs for the game's poor reception.
Management at Build A Rocket Boy, the Scottish studio behind the heavily criticized action game MindsEye, has reportedly installed Teramind monitoring software on employee work computers without prior notice. As first detailed in reports by GamesIndustry.biz and Insider Gaming, staff only discovered the software after noticing significant performance drops on their machines. Studio executives subsequently confirmed the installation during an impromptu all-hands meeting in late January, asking workers to sign an updated IT privacy policy after the fact while claiming the drastic measure was necessary to catch a tiny fraction of internal threats.
The secret software rollout is tied to increasingly bizarre claims from studio leadership regarding external sabotage. Co-CEO Mark Gerhard reportedly told employees during the January meeting that a major American company mounted a coordinated campaign to ruin the studio's reputation and undermine the launch of MindsEye. Gerhard and co-CEO Leslie Benzies have repeatedly blamed outside forces and internal saboteurs for the game's commercial and critical struggles, though leadership has faced severe friction with its workforce. Last October, nearly a hundred current and former employees signed an open letter criticizing the studio for mishandling layoffs following the game's rocky release.
This latest development adds another turbulent chapter to a studio already struggling to maintain trust with its community and its own developers. When management resorts to covert surveillance and conspiracy theories about corporate sabotage instead of addressing fundamental design and development flaws, it signals a deeper cultural breakdown within the team. For players watching from the outside, the ongoing drama surrounding MindsEye highlights just how fractured the relationship between executive leadership and everyday developers can become when high-profile projects stumble.
Tags: MindsEye, Build A Rocket Boy, Industry News, Game Development, PC Gaming
Original article: Rock Paper Shotgun