Twenty-six concurrent players on Steam—a stark measure of trust not rebuilt
In the long history of games that launched broken and sought second chances, MindsEye now takes its place — a studio's flagship title reduced in price and patched with new content, reaching for the kind of redemption Cyberpunk 2077 once found. Build a Rocket Boy, founded by a Grand Theft Auto veteran, is attempting to rewrite a story that began in disaster last summer, though the attempt is shadowed by unproven claims of sabotage, a staff lawsuit over secret surveillance, and a Steam player count that barely reaches three dozen. Redemption arcs require an audience willing to return, and that audience, for now, has not.
- MindsEye launched in 2025 as one of gaming's most visible failures — broken, uninspired, and handed a 4/10 by major outlets — leaving its studio in freefall.
- CEO Mark Gerhard has spent months blaming internal saboteurs for the collapse, but has offered no evidence, and his own company now faces a lawsuit from staff alleging secret surveillance software was installed on their devices.
- The Blacklisted update arrives today with a single sub-hour mission and a price cut to $34.99, framed by Gerhard as the opening chapter of a longer recovery — its storyline about a criminal network destroying a company from within barely concealing its real-world inspiration.
- SteamDB shows just 26 concurrent players on Steam following the update's release, a number that suggests the comeback bid has not yet moved the needle on player trust.
Build a Rocket Boy is betting that MindsEye can do what Cyberpunk 2077 did — survive a catastrophic launch and earn its way back. Today the studio released the Blacklisted update alongside a permanent price cut, dropping the game to $34.99 standard and $47.99 deluxe. It is a calculated move by a company that has spent the past year in freefall.
When MindsEye arrived last summer, it arrived broken — plagued by bugs, uninspired design, and a story that failed to grip anyone. IGN gave it a 4/10. The studio behind it was founded by Leslie Benzies, a former Rockstar North executive who had overseen Grand Theft Auto and the original Red Dead Redemption before a legal falling-out with his former employer. MindsEye was his new beginning, a crime-soaked action adventure set in a near-future city called Redrock. The pedigree was visible. The execution was not.
In the months since, CEO Mark Gerhard has blamed the wreckage on internal saboteurs — a claim he has never supported with evidence. Blacklisted, the new update, appears to dramatize that grievance directly: its single mission casts the player as an assassin dismantling a criminal network destroying a company from within. The subtext is barely concealed. The mission was originally designed as a Hitman crossover before IO Interactive withdrew, and what remains carries traces of that collaboration — open-ended targets, environmental puzzle-solving — delivered through Arcadia, MindsEye's user-generated content platform.
The numbers, however, are stark. SteamDB shows 26 concurrent Steam players following the update's release. Console figures remain private, but that number is a blunt measure of how little has changed. The situation grew more complicated earlier this month when MindsEye staff sued Build a Rocket Boy, alleging that leadership had installed secret surveillance software on employee devices — a revelation that sits uneasily alongside Gerhard's narrative of external conspiracy.
MindsEye is cheaper now, and there is new content to explore. Whether that is enough to rebuild the trust the game burned at launch remains the real question ahead.
Build a Rocket Boy is betting that MindsEye can pull off what Cyberpunk 2077 managed: a public resurrection after a catastrophic launch. The studio released the Blacklisted update today alongside a permanent price reduction, dropping the Standard Edition to $34.99 and the Deluxe Edition to $47.99. It's a calculated move by a company that has spent the past year in freefall.
When MindsEye arrived last summer, it arrived broken. The game shipped with absurd bugs, uninspired gameplay, and a story that failed to grip anyone. IGN's review called it "high on ambition but low on original ideas" and handed it a 4/10. The launch was so bad that it became shorthand for failure in gaming circles—one of 2025's most visible disasters. The studio behind it, Build a Rocket Boy, was helmed by Leslie Benzies, a former Rockstar North executive who had overseen the Grand Theft Auto franchise and the original Red Dead Redemption. He'd left Rockstar after GTA V, taken a break, then sued the company claiming he'd been forced out. A confidential settlement followed, and Benzies opened his new studio with MindsEye as its flagship. The game's DNA was unmistakably Grand Theft Auto-adjacent—a crime-soaked action adventure set in a near-future city called Redrock. But DNA alone doesn't make a game work.
In the months since launch, CEO Mark Gerhard has offered an explanation for the wreckage: sabotage. He's claimed repeatedly that internal conspirators deliberately undermined the game, though he's never produced evidence to back the claim. Instead, he promised an update that would expose these alleged saboteurs within the game itself. That update is Blacklisted, which arrived today. The new content is a single mission where you play as Julia Black, a world-class assassin tasked with dismantling a criminal network that's destroying a company from the inside out. The subtext is so transparent it barely qualifies as subtext. The mission is brief—completable in under an hour—and was originally designed as a crossover with Hitman before publisher IO Interactive withdrew from the project. What remains carries the DNA of that collaboration: open-ended design, multiple targets, environmental puzzle-solving.
Blacklisted is being delivered through Arcadia, MindsEye's user-generated content platform, rather than as traditional DLC. Arcadia is a secondary mode offering missions, races, challenges, and tools for players to build their own content. Gerhard framed the update as a fresh beginning. "Blacklisted marks the first new story campaign for MindsEye since launch," he said in a statement, "and we're excited to welcome players back to Redrock City to experience it in a new way." He added that the studio plans to expand both the game and Arcadia going forward, positioning this as the start of a longer recovery arc.
But the numbers tell a different story. According to SteamDB, MindsEye is currently running 26 concurrent players on Steam. Twenty-six. Console player counts aren't public, so there's room for the game to be performing better on PlayStation or Xbox, but that Steam figure is a stark measure of how little the Blacklisted update has moved the needle. A price cut and a new mission haven't brought players rushing back. The trust that MindsEye squandered at launch hasn't been rebuilt by promises of redemption.
The situation grew more complicated earlier this month when MindsEye staff sued Build a Rocket Boy. The lawsuit alleged that company leadership had installed secret surveillance software on employee devices—a revelation that complicated Gerhard's narrative about external saboteurs and internal conspirators. If the company was monitoring its own workers without their knowledge, the question of who actually sabotaged MindsEye became murkier. Gerhard's claims of conspiracy now sit alongside evidence of the company's own misconduct, making the comeback story considerably more complicated than a simple redemption arc.
MindsEye remains available on all platforms, cheaper than it was, with new content to explore. Whether that's enough to convince players who've already written the game off is the real test ahead.
Notable Quotes
Blacklisted marks the first new story campaign for MindsEye since launch, and we're excited to welcome players back to Redrock City to experience it in a new way.— CEO Mark Gerhard
High on ambition but low on original ideas.— IGN review
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why would a CEO publicly blame sabotage without evidence? What does he gain?
It's a narrative. When a game fails this spectacularly, you need an explanation that isn't "we made something bad." Sabotage lets him say the game itself was sound—the people were the problem. It's easier to fire people than to admit the vision was flawed.
And the Blacklisted update—is that actually addressing the sabotage claim, or just dramatizing it?
It's dramatizing it. The mission is about an assassin taking down conspirators inside a company. It's the claim made interactive, but it's not evidence. It's theater.
The surveillance software revelation—how does that change things?
It destroys the narrative. If leadership was secretly monitoring employees, then the company itself becomes the thing that was broken. You can't claim sabotage when you're the one installing spyware.
So why release Blacklisted at all? Why not wait until the lawsuit settles?
Because waiting means silence, and silence means the game dies. They need to show momentum, show they're moving forward. The price cut, the new content—it's all meant to signal that MindsEye is still alive. But 26 concurrent players suggests the signal isn't reaching anyone.
Could this actually work? Could MindsEye come back?
Cyberpunk did. But Cyberpunk had goodwill from years of hype and a studio with a track record. MindsEye has neither. It has a CEO making claims he can't prove and a company that spied on its own workers. That's a harder hole to climb out of.