MindsEye Dev Claims Conspiracy Behind Game’s Early Negative Feedback
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- Build A Rocket Boy’s co-CEO blames early backlash on a “concerted effort” to discredit the game.
- Mark Gerhard suggested bots and paid actors are targeting MindsEye, but gave no specifics.
- The game launches June 10 and faces little direct competition in its release window.
Build A Rocket Boy’s co-CEO, Mark Gerhard, has blamed the wave of early negative feedback surrounding the studio’s debut title, MindsEye, on what he describes as a “concerted effort” to discredit the game and its creators. Chatting on the game’s official Discord, Gerhard claimed the criticism wasn’t organic — but rather the result of a deliberate campaign against the studio, orchestrated by paid actors and bot activity.
The remarks followed a wave of viral negative reactions across social media following the latest MindsEye trailer, which introduced the game’s mission creation tools and other core features. Despite the reveal, early preview feedback on social media and YouTube has been noticeably skeptical, with the most common issues mentioned being the short story campaign, arguably dated visuals, unpolished AI behavior and vague storytelling.
But Gerhard believes there’s more to the backlash than unmet expectations. When asked directly whether all the negative reactions were financially motivated, the executive replied, “100 percent,” and doubled down, suggesting the pushback is part of a broader attempt to undermine the company. “There is a concerted effort by some people that don’t want to see Leslie or Build a Rocket Boy be successful,” he wrote, referencing studio founder and former GTA producer Leslie Benzies. “It’s pretty easy to see the bots and the repeated replies to any content that we put out,” he added.
While Gerhard claims that “it doesn’t take much to guess who” orchestrated the alleged smear conspiracy, he, however, never specified what individuals or companies would stand to gain from undermining the game. MindsEye is scheduled to launch on June 10, during a relatively quiet release window with no directly competing titles in sight — making it difficult to see who, if anyone, might benefit from coordinated negative coverage.
MindsEye is an upcoming third-person action-adventure described as a narrative-driven open-world game with shades of Grand Theft Auto. It features story missions, vehicular combat and an in-game creation tool for building and sharing custom experiences. MindsEye is set to launch on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC, with publishing handled by IO Interactive.
