BARB’s Troubled MindsEye Gets a Community Event Amid Layoffs

The MindsEye game developers who lost their jobs will hold a protest outside the Build a Rocket Boy (BARB) office in Edinburgh, Scotland, this Saturday, July 11. The protest is a response to the company’s decision to host an ‘all-expenses-paid playtest day’ for fans, where they will try out new features for the MindsEye game.

The IWGB Game Workers Union, which also represents the fired GTA 6 developers, will lead the protest. The union claims that BARB will fly fans into the studio to test the new features, despite the company’s recent mass layoffs. The union also accused BARB of invasive employee surveillance, union blacklisting, and mishandling redundancies.

According to the union, around 20 people are expected to participate in the protest, including laid-off BARB workers and their supporters. The protest is not expected to include current BARB staff. The union stated that it will demonstrate outside the BARB office in Edinburgh at 11 am local time.

BARB provided a statement regarding the community event: ‘This Saturday, we’re hosting a community event as part of our ongoing commitment to our game creation system, Arcadia, and the creators who have supported us from the very beginning. Bringing creators together to experience new features first-hand and share direct feedback is a very well-established part of game development, and that feedback is our most important input.’

The MindsEye game was initially designed to be part of the Everywhere platform, a creation platform for adults led by former Grand Theft Auto design chief Leslie Benzies. However, BARB eventually shifted its focus to MindsEye, which has so far failed to meet the company’s expectations. The game’s release was marred by performance issues, glitches, and AI behavior bugs.

In a recent statement, Strauss Zelnick, the boss of Rockstar parent company Take-Two, expressed his concerns about the challenges of making hits in the entertainment industry. He noted that while Rockstar has been successful, other companies, including former Rockstar employees, have struggled to replicate their success.

BARB’s decision to host a community event amid layoffs has sparked controversy, with the IWGB Game Workers Union calling it ‘tone-deaf.’ The union’s protest aims to highlight the company’s treatment of its workers and the impact of its decisions on the gaming community.

The MindsEye game has had a difficult time since its release, with a 24-hour peak Steam concurrent player count of just 48. The game’s failure has had a significant impact on BARB, leading to mass layoffs and a reevaluation of its game development strategy.