Build A Rocket Boy, the studio behind the single-player action game MindsEye and the user-generated content platform Everywhere, has gone through a new round of layoffs, and reports indicate the company may be shutting down, MassivelyOP reported on September 17.
The latest cuts affected artists, managers, and members of the studio's HR department, according to the report. One affected employee wrote in a since-deleted post that he would "be seeing BARB through till the very end, helping wrap things up," a remark MassivelyOP read as a sign that the studio is winding down. Insiders speaking to Kotaku separately claimed that Build A Rocket Boy will close. Studio leadership had not made any statement on the matter at the time of MassivelyOP's report.
The layoffs are not the first at the company, which MassivelyOP said has been through several previous rounds of job cuts. Build A Rocket Boy announced Everywhere in 2022 as a multiplayer platform built around player creation, and some of its creation tools were planned for use in MindsEye. The studio's MindsEye release was accompanied by what MassivelyOP described as online drama.
Union response
The Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain (IWGB) responded to the cuts in a statement shared by Rock Paper Shotgun, saying it would support affected developers while continuing to pursue its complaints about how management treated staff.
We cannot add any further insight into the heartbreaking job losses at BARB, a company that we think has been slowly spiralling for a long time.
In the same statement, the union said it offers solidarity and support to everyone affected by job losses and remains committed to getting justice for what it described as BARB management's treatment of workers, as well as to organizing to root such practices out of the video games industry. The union's statement did not confirm a closure.
