The Gaming Workers branch of the Independent Workers of Great Britain (IWGB) recently addressed an open letter to Build a Rocket Boy. It accuses the executives of “longstanding disrespect and mistreatment” of its workers in the development of its recent game MindsEye, culminating in recent layoffs that the studio allegedly “mishandled.” Alongside the open letter, the union said multiple members are filing legal claims against the studio and its leadership.
The letter, written by employees and ex-employees claims that Build a Rocket Boy’s leaders failed to listen to its workers, which led to both “one of the worst video game launches this decade” and to the subsequent layoffs of an estimated 250-300 UK-based workers. The letter alleges the leaders implemented “unbearable levels of overtime” leading up the launch of MindsEye, which was supposed to be compensated with time off but which many of the employees have not been able to take.
In addition, the letter emphasizes a poor handling of the redundancy process, saying, “Employees have received misinformation, been handed dismissal notices with the wrong notice periods, and been put in the wrong teams so that their performances were scored by the wrong people. These and other errors have potentially resulted in the wrongful dismissal of dozens of staff members.” The studio first announced the layoffs in June after the game’s launch.
Alongside the open letter, the IWGB Game Workers Union said in a post on Bluesky that said former and current employees could be taking legal action: “We stand in solidarity with employees and ex-employees at Build a Rocket Boy as they file legal claims through our union and publish an open letter, condemning the way in which they’ve been mistreated and discarded by the studio’s millionaire executives.”