The BBC has uncovered the reasons for MindsEye's failure – the project was wrecked by chaos and authoritarian leadership

BBC journalists conducted their own investigation to understand why MindsEye, from GTA creator Leslie Benzies, became one of the most high-profile flops of the year. As it turns out, the disaster was inevitable: development was plagued by confusion, excessive management control, and a lack of a clear vision for the project.

According to BBC sources, no one inside the Build a Rocket Boy studio understood what Benzies meant when he spoke of "internal sabotage." Employees say the problem wasn't sabotage at all, but rather that the producer had no idea what kind of product he wanted. Work on the game was chaotic, and any attempts by the developers to offer criticism or improvements were met with ridicule during meetings.

The team initially worked on Everywhere, a futuristic multiplayer world, but over time, the focus shifted to MindsEye, a single-player campaign designed to draw attention to the main product. But the studio never developed a clear direction. Benzies personally intervened in the process, creating so-called "Leslie tickets"—high-priority tasks that could include anything from minor visual tweaks to orders to cut entire missions. This constantly distracted employees from key areas, and their work was often deleted at the manager's whim.

By the end of 2025, the studio began to face deadline pressure. Developers were switched to a six-day workweek without additional pay, and many admitted to feeling drained and demotivated. The testing department was particularly hard hit: due to code chaos, fixed bugs kept reappearing in new builds.

Before the release of Build a Rocket Boy, the team decided not to send the game to journalists, limiting it to a company party. However, there was little to celebrate—MindsEye received scathing reviews after its release, and its failure became apparent within hours. At an urgent meeting, Benzies again raised the issue of sabotage, promising to fix everything, but for the team, this was just empty words.
According to the developers, the studio's reputation was beyond saving—the debut, which should have been the hallmark of the new, ambitious team, had become an example of how a talented producer can destroy his own creation.