MindsEye's first major update, 'Blacklist', really will be used by former GTA lead to 'share some of the evidence of the sabotage’ that apparently made it bad

MindsEye is a bit of a mess. The first proper effort of Build a Rocket Boy, a studio helmed by former GTA developer Leslie Benzies, the game fell flat on its face mostly because it was just wasn't great. The studio hasn't given up on it though, in part because it was apparently all because of saboteurs.

Back in July of last year, Benzies went off on one, stating to IGN that there had been saboteurs scuffing the game's success. This was then echoed in March of this year, wherein Benzies claimed the studio had "overwhelming evidence of organized espionage and corporate sabotage."

I won't sit here and naysay all of that, but I do have to wonder out loud how corporate espionage produces a game with pretty mid combat and an unappealing story—I mean, MindsEye's debut trailer was set to Mad World. Its first impression gave me 'this game wandered out of the early Xbox 360 era with no self awareness'.

Then, in February of this year, Benzies stated that some of the individuals the studio had allegedly caught doing something would star in an upcoming mission: "We will use these people, these names and these facts for our own fun. We’re gonna put some of these names into our upcoming spy mission." Normal!

Given that this was just initially an internal meeting, you'd be forgiven for thinking it to be a mere moment of corporate fugue: But no, this really is what Build a Rocket Boy is doing. It is going to use a DLC to dunk on former employees it alleges sabotaged its ostensibly mid videogame.

In a recent Gamesbeat interview, Benzies states that the new mission, dubbed Blacklist, will be used "to share some of the evidence of the sabotage with the community".

Earlier in the talk, Benzies seems to think it's all well-in-hand, that the evidence is compelling and that the truth will all come out. What truth? Who's to say: "We’ve got very strong evidence of this and conducted quite thorough investigations over the months since launch. We’ve identified parties involved, and it’s now with the authorities both [in the] U.K. and U.S. to deal with.

"I can confirm that they’re assisting us with this investigation, but it’s also in their hands now. We’ll leave them to do what they do, make their arrests or any announcements in due course. I think we’re not saying anything further at this stage on that. We’ll just let the natural course of justice take its path."

Look, maybe there actually was large-scale saboteur work going on at MindsEye, based on the sheer confidence Benzies has that people are going to get potentially arrested over it. That confidence has translated to naming and shaming said people in a mission called Blacklist, which I have to assume is trying (and failing) to be subtle about the mission itself blacklisting those people from the industry.

But also, doesn't that seem a little petty for something you're taking serious legal action on? If there was espionage at work, wouldn't that show up as like… something more than just an inoffensively poor videogame? Isn't making an update where you name and shame developers whose guilt is yet to be proven in a court of law jumping the gun just a little?

The game's publisher, IO Interactive, certainly seems to be keeping the studio at arm's length over all of this, outright denying the claims. I suppose we'll just have to wait and see.

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