Leslie Benzies' Build A Rocket Boy is reportedly shutting down
The MindsEye studio, founded by former Rockstar North president Leslie Benzies, is reportedly winding down after more layoffs. What we know and how it got here.
Build A Rocket Boy, the Scottish studio founded by Leslie Benzies, former president of Rockstar North (the Edinburgh studio behind GTA), is reportedly closing. According to Kotaku on September 16, 2026, several employees have announced their departures after another round of layoffs, and what's left of the studio is being wound down. The company hasn't confirmed it, and the UK's Companies House still lists it as active.
How it got here
Date | What happened |
|---|---|
June 10, 2025 | MindsEye launches on PS5, Xbox Series and PC with serious technical problems, very negative reviews (38 on Metacritic) and refund requests |
2025 | More than 250 layoffs. Nearly 100 current and former staff sign an open letter accusing management of "longstanding disrespect and mistreatment"; the company says it regrets the redundancies and met its legal obligations |
March 2026 | IO Interactive ends the publishing deal, cancelling a planned Hitman crossover. Co-CEO Mark Gerhard claims "overwhelming evidence of organised espionage and corporate sabotage" around the launch, without making it public |
May 2026 | More layoffs: around 170 of the remaining 250 staff, per Kotaku, leaving a team of about 80 |
September 2026 | Reports of the studio's closure |
Before that, Benzies had taken temporary leave, leaving Gerhard as sole CEO.
What happens to MindsEye and Everywhere?
If the closure is confirmed, the future of MindsEye and its online services is up in the air, as is that of Everywhere, the creation platform that was meant to be the studio's big project and never got a full release. Until now, Build A Rocket Boy had kept updating MindsEye and promising to expand it.
Our take
It's a sad end for a project that launched with huge expectations thanks to its founder's résumé. Leaving Rockstar with GTA pedigree guaranteed nothing: making an open-world game at that level takes a studio, tools and years that very few companies can afford, as GTA VI's own development shows. As always, the people who pay the price are the hundreds of developers who lost their jobs along the way.
