Мем про MindsEye від Build A Rocket Boy
Massive layoffs after the MindsEye fiasco were not long in coming — a real «bounty hunt» is underway inside the studio.
The studio of GTA ex-producer Leslie Benzis — Build A Rocket Boy — starts the process of finding the culprits. For information IGNThe company has announced a 45-day consultation period, which is mandatory in the UK, before making redundancies of 100 employees or more. This could affect a significant portion of the studio, which has about 300 employees in the UK and another 200 overseas.
It should be reminded that the release of MindsEye on June 10 was a disaster. The developers advertised the shooter as an open-world story game in the style of GTA and Cyberpunk 2077. In reality we got tons of technical issues, friezes, FPS drops and «disco» bugs. Some PS5 players started receiving refunds, and the game’s rating on Steam dropped to «mostly negative» — a record 38% positive reviews.
Before the release, the studio’s management did not believe that things were that bad. They literally hinted that Rockstar had ordered bots to underestimate reviews. Leslie Benzis’s eyes were opened by» after the release, when users devastatingly destroyed the game. The studio stated that «was heartbroken by»’s launch. They tried to patch» MindsEye with two patches, but technical experts from Digital Foundry called the performance «pathetic». The third patch is promised by the end of June, but the chances that it will restore players’ trust are steadily moving towards zero.
The launch was so messy that leaked the gameplay and retail stores accidentally gave out physical copies of the game before the official release date. They did not contain the first day patch, which only intensified the criticism. An additional reason for ridicule was that review codes were not provided and some marketing campaigns were canceled. In addition, users came across repeated positive comments on social media — after which the studio had to deny the use of bots. Although it would be an exaggeration to say that they were believed.
MindsEye was once developed as part of the Everywhere project, a gaming platform and metaverse that was supposed to be the studio’s flagship. The game was later spun off as a separate product. After the launch fiasco, its future, as well as the Everywhere project itself, is in doubt.
Also, before the release, the studio was already feverish: the co-founders were leaving the project, and Glassdoor reviews wrote about internal chaos. All of this happened a few days before the game’s launch, which could now turn into a large-scale crisis for Build A Rocket Boy.
Source: Kotaku