Build a Rocket Boy, developers of MindsEye, and the publishing arm of Hitman studio IO Interactive have announced the end of their publishing marriage on the ill-fated action game. Build a Rocket Boy’ll be flying solo on MindsEye from here on out, with a planned crossover between it and Hitman having been now officially nixed after a while in awkward limbo.
“Build A Rocket Boy will assume sole publishing responsibilities going forward, ensuring continuity for the MindsEye community and all partners,” reads a joint press release from the two sides. “IOI Partners and BARB are coordinating closely to ensure a seamless transition over the coming weeks. In light of this separation, the Hitman mission announced in June 2025, planned as a crossover event within MindsEye, will no longer be released. However, BARB plans on working with partners on other projects in the future.”
For what it’s worth, the duo wrote that they “recognise the anticipation this collaboration generated among the community”, and thank said community for their support.
It’s fair to say this publishing deal on MindsEye, the first one IO’s publishing arm struck, probably hasn’t gone how the company who employ Agent 47 initially envisaged. MindsEye came out, was widely panned as a buggy mess without the creative juice (outside perhaps of one particularly memorable NPC) you’d need to overcome that state, and has since lived in a similar infamy to the likes of Sony’s Concord.
Build a Rocket Boy co-bosses Mark Gerhard and Leslie Benzies have presided over multiple rounds of layoffs as a dwindling team have tried to whip the game into a more appealing shape. The pair have been accused by former staff of meddling micromanagement, enforing crunch, and even “disastrously” mishandling the redundancies which affected around 300 staff at Build a Rocket Boy last year.
Then, there’s the alleging from these same execs that MindsEye was the victim of “organised espionage and corporate sabotage” by some powerful third party, and the reported installation of monitoring software on the PCs of staff at the studio without said staff’s knowledge in an apparent effort to weed out any would-be spies or saboteurs.
So yeah, not ideal. RIP to that Hitman mission involving minds and eyes that’ll now be lost to the mists of time.
