From Grand Theft Auto Glory to Game Studio Turmoil: Leslie Benzies Faces Fallout After MindsEye Collapse
Leslie Benzies, the celebrated producer behind Grand Theft Auto V, is facing mounting criticism after the disastrous launch of his new studio’s debut game, MindsEye.
Three weeks after its release in June 2025, the ambitious sci-fi title from Build a Rocket Boy (BARB) – Benzies’ Edinburgh-based studio – was branded “broken,” “buggy,” and “the worst game of 2025” by players and critics alike.
At an all-staff meeting in July, Benzies addressed his employees via video link, calling the wave of negative reviews “uncalled for.” He went further, suggesting that “internal and external saboteurs” had deliberately tried to derail the launch – a claim that left many stunned.
According to staff who spoke to BBC Newsbeat, the failure of MindsEye had less to do with sabotage and more with poor leadership, shifting priorities, and chaotic management.
Benzies, once hailed as one of Rockstar Games’ creative masterminds, founded BARB in 2016 after leaving Rockstar amid a legal dispute over unpaid royalties. His new company quickly grew to nearly 450 employees across offices in Edinburgh, Budapest, and Montpellier, raising over £233 million in investment by 2024. But despite the cash infusion, BARB burned through more than £200 million without shipping a single product before MindsEye.
Former employees say the studio’s first project, Everywhere, was repeatedly reworked at Benzies’ direction before morphing into MindsEye. One former staffer described a work culture marked by “constant pivots and indecision,” claiming there was “no coherent direction” from leadership.
Workers also allege a pattern of micro-management, citing so-called “Leslie tickets” – requests from Benzies himself that often overrode team priorities and caused delays. “It didn’t matter what else you were working on,” one developer recalled. “The Leslie ticket had to be taken care of.”
In the months leading up to MindsEye’s release, employees described being forced into “crunch” mode, working unpaid overtime under mounting pressure. Despite hopes that the game could recover from its troubled development, its launch was met with widespread technical failures – from broken animations to disappearing pedestrians and glitched characters.
Within weeks, between 250 and 300 staff were laid off, most of them based in Edinburgh. The Game Workers Branch of the Independent Workers of Great Britain union has since accused BARB of “disastrous mishandling” of the redundancy process and is preparing legal action.
In a statement, Build a Rocket Boy said it was “deeply saddened” by the layoffs and accepted “full responsibility” for the game’s flawed release. The company pledged to fix MindsEye through updates and new content, saying it remains committed to “delivering the experience we always envisioned.”
But former employees remain skeptical. Many doubt the game can recover from its disastrous debut – or that the studio can regain its footing in an industry already grappling with widespread layoffs.
“It’s heartbreaking,” said one ex-developer. “There were some incredibly talented people at BARB, and this could have been something special. Instead, it’s become a lesson in how not to build a game.”
