Build a Rocket Boy, Studio Founded by Former GTA Lead Leslie Benzies, Permanently Shuts Down

Build A Rocket Boy, the Edinburgh-based studio founded by former Grand Theft Auto lead producer Leslie Benzies, is permanently shutting down today following a final wave of layoffs. The closure marks the immediate end of a ten-year, $313 million venture that failed to recover from the catastrophic June 2025 launch of its debut title, MindsEye.[1][2][4][5]

The final collapse was confirmed by multiple employees across social media over the past 24 hours. Dan Hawkins, the studio's principal talent acquisition partner, stated on LinkedIn that he and his colleagues were facing redundancy, noting he would remain to help "BARB through till the very end" as the company winds down its human resources operations. Similar departure announcements were posted by level designers, quality assurance analysts, and release managers, signaling a complete cessation of development.[1][2][3]

At its peak, Build A Rocket Boy ballooned to more than 500 employees, fueled by £233 million ($313 million) in venture capital investment secured by 2024. The financial burn rate was immense: the studio's latest financial statements, covering the period up to September 30, 2025, revealed total operating costs of £52.1 million ($70 million) against just £4.6 million ($6.1 million) in generated revenue.[4]

The studio's downfall is inextricably linked to MindsEye, a sci-fi action-adventure game that launched to overwhelming negative reception. Plagued by severe performance issues and artificial intelligence bugs, the title peaked at just 16 concurrent players on Steam in recent weeks. A major "Blacklisted" update and a subsequent 50 percent discount failed to revive the player base or generate meaningful sales.[1][4]

Rather than acknowledging the technical shortcomings, studio leadership pointed to external factors. Benzies and CEO Mark Gerhard alleged that "criminal activity" and organized "saboteurs" were responsible for the game's failure, claiming that over €1 million was spent on a coordinated smear campaign. These claims did little to appease frustrated players or investors, and IO Interactive, which had originally signed on to publish the game, stepped away from the project earlier this year.[1][4]

The internal culture at the studio also drew intense scrutiny during its final year. In July 2025, the company issued at-risk of redundancy notices to its 300-strong UK workforce. Nearly 100 developers subsequently signed an open letter alleging severe mismanagement, while former employees staged protests outside the Edinburgh office this summer following a previous round of mass layoffs.[1][4]

Benzies, who was instrumental in shaping the Grand Theft Auto franchise from GTA III through GTA V, founded the studio in 2016. His departure from Rockstar Games culminated in a $150 million lawsuit over unpaid royalties, which was resolved in a confidential settlement in February 2019.[5]

The closure halts all development on MindsEye and the studio's ambitious, unreleased Everywhere platform. With the servers likely to go offline and the remaining staff seeking new employment in a contracted labor market, the collapse of Build A Rocket Boy stands as one of the most expensive studio failures in recent industry history.[2][3][4]