There have been a few major flops as of late but the implosion that was Build a Rocket Boy's MindsEye is without question one of the more unusual ones. The game was a technical shamble when it arrived and lacked in promised features, and while that is already enough to disappoint critics and fans, the most striking development came when the studio executives revealed that the game's catastrophic launch was in part down to "organised espionage and corporate sabotage" from unnamed sources.
This also came as all kinds of crazy decisions and statements were made from the bosses at the studio, including that the developers were "lazy and incompetent", while the developers claimed that the project was "plagued from the start". It was a collapse of epic proportions.
Now, as we're steadily nearing the game's first anniversary, Build a Rocket Boy's CEO and CTO, Mark Gerhard, has spoken with GamesBeat about the title and made some stark admissions while painting a promising plan for the future.
"We're very excited about this next chapter. We know we had, without doubt, the worst launch in history. And obviously there's many reasons for that, but we are planning to relaunch our game now that the interference has stopped. The game is being very well-reviewed. The sales are increasing organically, doubling almost weekly.
"All of that's very positive. We like being able to control our own destiny as an independent studio. We want to be close to our players. We want to be listening to the community and evolving their game in an organic way."
Speaking about the espionage and sabotage element, Gerhard also stated that "we were kind of caught flat-footed on that. We didn't counter the negative narrative. We weren't sophisticated enough to have done that. But, we're aware. We've called that out. Some of the negativity has been orchestrated around this, and thankfully, as a result, it stopped."
He then adds that "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 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."
Still, the performance issues and bugs were not a result of this and Gerhard has said that these were "on us" and that "we own that as a leadership team and as a studio."
It will be a long road ahead now for MindsEye, which has split from its publisher IO Interactive and which faces the challenge of building up good faith with a community it has already harmed. When the 'relaunch' takes place, will you give MindsEye another go?