Build a Rocket Boy Lays Off 170 in Third Round

Build a Rocket Boy, the studio behind the action game MindsEye, has laid off approximately 170 employees in its third round of staff reductions over the past year, leaving roughly 80 workers at the company.

The cuts, reported last week, have not been officially confirmed by the studio. However, multiple former employees announced their departures on LinkedIn and the game's Discord server. Affected staff included technical level designer James Tyler, audio designer Tom Cross, QA analyst Gary Iain Gough, level designer Leah Philpot, and members of the social and community teams. Sources familiar with the restructuring placed the number of layoffs at around 170, reducing the workforce from about 250.

This follows two prior rounds of layoffs. Shortly after MindsEye's launch on June 10, 2025, the studio cut more than 100 positions. Another wave occurred in March 2026, which CEO Mark Gerhard attributed to the game's troubled debut. "The prolonged impact of the difficult launch means that we still had to take the brutal and heartbreaking step of reducing the size of the studio once again to ensure the long-term future of the company and the projects we continue to build," Gerhard...