A group of almost 100 former and current Build a Rocket Boy (BARB) developers have published an open letter containing allegations of calamitous mismanagement that purportedly led to the “disastrous handling of redundancies” and “unbearable levels of overtime.”
The letter was published with assistance from the Game Workers Branch of the Independent Workers of Great Britain union and claims that between 250 to 300 studio workers have lost their livelihoods because BARB leaders, Mark Gerhard and Leslie Benzies, refused to support and listen to their employees.
An additional statement from the union posted on Bluesky states that multiple BARB employees are now filing legal claims against the studio.
The studio confirmed it was making layoffs In June—just weeks after the bungled launch of its debut title MindsEye—but didn’t specify how many people would be made redundant. BARB’s chief legal officer Riley Graebner and chief financial officer Paul Bland also departed ahead of MindsEye’s launch.
In the newly-published open letter, 93 current and former BARB staffers claim Gerhard and Benzies implemented a mandatory overtime policy that required every single employee to work an extra eight hours per week in the four months leading up to launch.
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“Time Off In Lieu (TOIL) was given at a rate of 7 hours back for every 8 hours worked, but many have still not been able to take this time off due to your continued requests for extra “high-priority” work, even after launch,” states the letter.
Signatories also claim Gerhard and Benzies completely mishandled the redundancy process, causing “distress and confusion” across the board.
“Employees have received misinformation, been handed dismissal notices with the wrong notice periods, and been put in the wrong teams so that their performances were scored by the wrong people,” the letter continues. “These and other errors have potentially resulted in the wrongful dismissal of dozens of staff members.”
“CEOs need to take a backseat and allow the skilled people who remain at the company to forge the path ahead”
All 93 signees say both executives consistently failed to effectively communicate with the very employees whose expertise the company relied upon. “Information has been sparse and vague, with you often making radical changes to the way we worked with little or no input from those affected,” the letter adds.
Gerhard and Benzies are ultimately accused of inflicting pain and stress on BARB employees by failing to adequately take responsibly for the company and its workforce.
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“Our experience at the company has been one of burnout, job insecurity, health issues, and the failure of a game that many of us have put years of our lives into,” the letter continues. “BARB needs to change. CEOs need to take a backseat and allow the skilled people who remain at the company to forge the path ahead.”
All signatories are demanding a public apology for the mistreatment they experienced and proper compensation for laid-off employees. They are want to be granted an option that will enable remaining employees on redundancy notice to either work their notice period to take Payment in Lieu of Notice (PILON).
In addition, they want Gerhard and Benzies to make a concerted, meaningful, and documented effort to improve workplace conditions—including the acknowledgement of IWGB as a trade union—and commit to using official external partners to action any future redundancies and prevent unfair treatment.
“Mark Gerhard and Leslie Benzies, you often refer to your employees as ‘family,'” concludes the letter. “But we ask you to consider; is this really how you treat your own?”
Game Developer has reached out to BARB for comment.