Unionised former MindsEye devs fight back against alleged fan playtest at Build A Rocket Boy

The IWGB Union Protests Against Build a Rocket Boy’s Expenses-Paid Fan Playtest Event

Recently, the IWGB union organized a protest alongside former Build a Rocket Boy (BARB) staff outside the MindsEye studio’s offices. The union’s main grievance was that the company had hosted an expenses-paid fan playtest event following layoffs. IWGB chair Spring McParlin-Jones condemned this move as “a kick in the teeth” for the terminated employees who witnessed fans being brought in to perform tasks that would have been theirs.

People Make Games’ Chris Bratt shed light on the protest held by the IWGB outside Build a Rocket Boy’s offices in Scotland on Saturday, July 11th.

In a statement to Bratt, McParlin-Jones expressed outrage at the lavish playtest event funded by BARB and stated, “This extravagant playtest event is a waste of money, and a kick in the teeth for the fired workers who are seeing fans brought in to do jobs that would otherwise have been theirs.” The crux of the issue, according to the union, was that the playtest attendees had their travel expenses covered by BARB.

Game workers protested outside the Build A Rocket Boy offices on Saturday, as the studio hosted a playtesting event for fans. BARB has laid off 250-300 employees over the last 13 months & has been accused of installing surveillance software on workers’ PCs to root out “saboteurs” within the company

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— Chris Bratt (@chrisbratt.bsky.social) 13 July 2026 at 12:30

“They sat by and allowed an entire branch of their company in France to go bankrupt, hoping the government there would clean up their mess,” remarked ex-BARB employee Isaac Hudd during a speech at the protest, criticizing BARB’s co-CEOs Mark Gerhard and Leslie Benzies. Hudd highlighted BARB’s hiring of fans from their Discord community instead of redundant community managers and bringing in more fans on dwindling resources to playtest an online game that could be accessed from anywhere. This move was perceived as a betrayal by those abandoned by the company.

Efforts to obtain a comment from Build a Rocket Boy regarding the situation are underway.

Since the release of MindsEye last June, Build a Rocket Boy’s story has been tumultuous. In addition to significant layoffs, executive Gerhard has alleged sabotage in the game, incorporating evidence of this into the Hitman-esque mission added to the game earlier this year, Blacklisted. The IWGB has accused BARB management of illegal activities, including the installation of surveillance software on staff PCs to identify alleged saboteurs.