Build a Rocket Boy has launched what it calls the most significant update yet for its open-world game MindsEye, framing it as a reset for 2026 amid ongoing development. The update follows a disastrous 2025 launch and comes as studio founder Leslie Benzies faces new allegations. Future plans include an expansion and multiplayer features.
Build a Rocket Boy, the studio behind the open-world game MindsEye, announced on February 4, 2026, a "new phase of ongoing development" with its seventh post-launch update. The studio described this as the "most significant post-launch update yet, achieving the studio’s vision for quality and setting the stage for exciting future content updates," positioning it as "a reset for the brand and the title in 2026." A trailer titled "MindsEye - More Than It Seems" accompanies the release.
MindsEye launched in June 2025 to widespread criticism, marked by bugs, poor performance, canceled sponsored marketing streams, and dismal reviews. The developer laid off staff shortly after and introduced a "free starter pack" trial across platforms in November 2025. CEO and CTO Mark Gerhard hailed the update as "a big step forward for MindsEye, and our studio," promising "substantial combat and gameplay enhancements" and new content in development. The studio committed to "steady, meaningful progress."
Looking ahead, Build a Rocket Boy plans to reveal a new expansion adding end-game content and enhanced world exploration in the coming months. It will also introduce a multiplayer mode to the ARCADIA platform, which delivers monthly missions.
The announcement arrives amid controversy. On February 3, 2026, founder Leslie Benzies, a Rockstar veteran, responded to an allegation in recently released US Justice Department Epstein files. An email from an unnamed person accused him of sexual assault; Benzies denied it, stating, "These allegations are false, I had a 3 months consensual relationship with this person, and I have never met Jeffrey Epstein, nor have I ever visited his island, his properties or travelled on his plane. Any suggestion otherwise is misleading."
Gerhard has previously alluded to external threats, demanding a YouTuber remove a video citing "media manipulation, espionage, sabotage, or interference targeting our organization." He described critics as part of a "media manipulation cabal" and claimed pre-release negativity was "financed by someone." Benzies has spoken of "internal and external" forces sabotaging the launch, vowing to root out "saboteurs."
A spokesperson confirmed Benzies remains with the company, though he is absent from the press release.
