Layoffs- a word that’s becoming much more common in the gaming industry- and now, once again, another studio has been hit with a set of layoffs, and it’s Build Rocket Boy, the developers behind MindsEye, a game that received lots of blowback due to its state of release. And now, only a week after its first DLC, Build a Rocket Boy has laid off around 170 of its employees, leaving it with only 80 employees, as reported by Kotaku. Just as things might have been looking up for the company, as they promised they would, they are hit with layoffs at this point. It is unclear what happens from here.
Build a Rocket Boy has been on a constant bumpy road since the launch of MindsEye, where it was poorly received by the public and has been under constant scrutiny. At one point, the co-CEO of Build a Rocket Boy, Mark Gerhard, called the game’s failure the result of sabotage and has been very vocal about it, leaving a bad taste in players’ mouths. This now marks the third set of layoffs the studio has faced, following layoffs in June of 2025 and more in March of 2026. It was also reported that the studio consisted of 250 employees, and now, after the layoffs, only 80 remain, as various departments were hit, such as Level and Audio design, and QA. As of the writing of this, the studio has not made a public statement about the layoffs, and the most vocal member of the company, Mark Gerhard, hasn’t said anything yet.
As mentioned before, layoffs are becoming way too common in the gaming industry, and as things are going, it’s only going to get worse unless something drastically changes. It also sucks that this round of layoffs comes only a week after the first DLC of game and on the back of a promise that things will get better, so what was a cause of celebration is now nothing more than a bad taste. It is unknown where the company goes from here and what the future of MindsEye will be, as nothing but bad news continues to come from the studio will have to wait and see what the next move is and what reasoning is behind these layoffs.