The highly anticipated debut game from former GTA V lead Leslie Benzies has landed with a thud. MindsEye, billed as a revolutionary project within the larger Everywhere platform, failed to meet expectations — critically and commercially — sending shockwaves through its studio, Build A Rocket Boy.

In just weeks, the game plummeted into bargain-bin territory. Now, internal emails confirm staff layoffs. Meanwhile, Benzies has blamed the failure on a mix of internal betrayal and outside interference, as Glassdoor reviews and player criticism tell a different story.

A Studio’s Dream, Derailed Overnight

Build A Rocket Boy was supposed to be a new kind of developer. A fresh voice led by a legend — Leslie Benzies, the man once hailed as the mastermind behind Grand Theft Auto V.

But the dream didn’t last.

MindsEye was meant to kick off Everywhere, an ambitious connected-world concept often compared to a grown-up Roblox. Instead, the standalone action game arrived riddled with bugs, vague storytelling, and clunky design. Players bounced. Critics pounced. Sales dried up.

And before anyone had a chance to fix it, the layoffs began.

Benzies Points Fingers, Team Pushes Back

After the flop, Benzies reportedly held a tense video call with staff. His tone? Defensive. According to sources speaking with IGN, he blamed unnamed “saboteurs” — both inside and outside the company — for the disaster.

That didn’t sit well with many.

An email soon followed, sent to both Build A Rocket Boy employees and the team at PlayFusion, a smaller studio the company had absorbed. It warned of potential job losses.

“There are saboteurs,” Benzies allegedly said on the call.
“We will bounce back and relaunch the game,” he added.

While executives made promises, anonymous reviews on Glassdoor painted a bleaker picture. Poor leadership. A chaotic work environment. Lack of vision. These complaints now seem like red flags that went ignored for too long.

Even the Lead Actor Had Issues

When actors start speaking up about a game’s quality, you know it’s bad. Alex Hernandez, who played MindsEye protagonist Jason Diaz, didn’t hold back.

In a blunt interview, Hernandez expressed his own disappointment. “There’s a shared frustration,” he said. “Why would you, as a company, release something that seemed to not be ready?”

He didn’t just throw shade — he dropped the whole umbrella.

“I don’t care if this is your first game or if it’s your hundredth game,” he added. “If it’s glitchy, it’s glitchy.”

That kind of comment usually comes from YouTubers and Twitch streamers, not from someone on the box art.

Industry-Wide Bleeding Adds Salt to the Wound

Build A Rocket Boy isn’t alone in its crisis. The gaming industry, once booming, is in a slump. Layoffs are spreading like wildfire.

Earlier this year, Microsoft let go of thousands of employees across its studios. Big-name titles like Everwild, Perfect Dark, and an MMO from Zenimax Online were quietly shelved.

Here’s a quick look at recent cuts:

Company	Number of Layoffs	Canceled Projects
Microsoft Studios	~1,900	Everwild, Perfect Dark, Zenimax MMO
Riot Games	~500	Unannounced R&D projects
Embracer Group	~1,300	Multiple subsidiaries dissolved
Build A Rocket Boy	Undisclosed	TBD (MindsEye future uncertain)

No one’s calling it a recession. But developers are feeling the pressure. Games take years and millions to make. And now, more than ever, there’s zero margin for error.

Is Everywhere Still Alive?

One question still floating in the haze: what happens to Everywhere?

MindsEye was only one part of the puzzle. The larger concept — interconnected open-world experiences tied together with portals — is supposedly still in development.

But insiders are skeptical.

With morale low and layoffs underway, it’s hard to imagine full momentum on something as ambitious as Everywhere. It was once framed as the next-generation sandbox. Now, it feels like a ghost town before it even opened.

And while Benzies insists the team will rework and relaunch MindsEye, there’s no timeline. No clear roadmap. Just promises.

Blame, Burnout, and the Price of Hype

It’s not unusual for a first game from a new studio to stumble. What’s unusual here is the scale of the hype — and the scale of the fallout.

Benzies’ involvement gave Build A Rocket Boy instant credibility. Investors poured in. Press coverage glowed. Expectations were sky-high.

But when you set the bar that high, you have to deliver.

And right now, what’s left is a team in shock, a project in limbo, and leadership scrambling for answers. Blame is easy to dish out. Fixing things? That’s going to be the real challenge.