MindsEye Studio Secretly Spied on Staff at Home, Union Claim

Forty employees. That's how many Build a Rocket Boy workers signed a collective grievance after discovering that management had secretly installed surveillance software on their work devices. Now, those workers are taking legal action against the MindsEye developer, alleging the software recorded them inside their own homes without consent.

According to a statement from the IWGB Game Workers Union, the software in question is Teramind, a monitoring tool that tracks keystrokes, records screen activity, and captures microphone audio. The union alleges it was installed without employees' knowledge and only came to light after staff noticed their systems running slower than usual. In a leaked internal meeting, co-CEO Mark Gerhard and co-CEO Leslie Benzies reportedly confirmed the software had been deployed. Gerhard reportedly framed it as a security measure, saying the company could trust "99.9 percent" of its workforce but that "the one percent" was the problem.

Build a Rocket Boy removed Teramind in March following the collective grievance, but the IWGB says the company has refused to explain what data was collected, how it was stored, or why the software was installed in the first place. The union is now escalating through the UK's Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) and the Information Commissioner's Office. "BARB's use of the software violates both data protection laws and the workforce's basic dignity," the union stated, "exceeding the legitimate remit of monitoring workers' productivity or safeguarding the company's security by recording individuals in their homes and without their consent."

A second legal front

This isn't the only legal action Build a Rocket Boy is dealing with. The IWGB filed separate claims on April 12 relating to the studio's handling of mass redundancies last year, when roughly 250 to 300 workers were let go following MindsEye's disastrous launch. Those filings include allegations of unlawful blacklisting, detriment, and failure to engage in collective consultations. The union says a successful outcome could cost the studio millions.

Chris Wilson, lead cinematic animator at Build a Rocket Boy, didn't hold back: "Build A Rocket Boy's toxic culture of secrecy and micromanaging is one of the worst I've seen in a 20-year career in the gaming industry. It can only be assumed this software was added as a part of their effort to micromanage us, a product of their mistrust of their employees."

I find it hard to read this story as anything other than a studio in freefall blaming everyone but itself. MindsEye launched to a 33 average from top critics on OpenCritic and was the lowest-rated game on Metacritic in 2025. Rather than reckon with what went wrong internally, Gerhard has repeatedly claimed the game was the victim of "organised espionage and corporate sabotage," telling GamesBeat earlier this month that authorities in both the US and UK are now involved. He's even said the studio plans to work evidence of the alleged sabotage into a future MindsEye mission. Meanwhile, the people who actually built the game are in court alleging they were surveilled in their own homes. Build a Rocket Boy declined to comment on the legal action.