Overview
- The Independent Workers Union of Great Britain and former Build A Rocket Boy employees held a protest outside the studio in Leith on Saturday to condemn an expenses‑paid fan playtest.
- The IWGB says the studio covered flights and hotel stays for fans who tested upcoming MindsEye features and that those fans performed duties normally done by paid testers and community staff.
- The protest follows repeated redundancy rounds since MindsEye's June 2025 launch, with the union estimating roughly 250–300 jobs cut and IO Interactive ending its publishing relationship in March 2026.
- Union members are pursuing legal action alleging the studio installed Teramind monitoring software on staff devices, a tool that was removed in March after staff complaints but remains the subject of disputes over what data was collected.
- Build A Rocket Boy defended the playtest as routine community engagement, but the event is likely to deepen staffing, hiring and reputation challenges for the studio and could affect ongoing legal and commercial relationships.