LogInThey accuse its leadership of "longstanding disrespect and mistreatment."
Build A Rocket Boy
Build A Rocket Boy's MindsEye was a disappointing flop, and, not surprisingly, the studio announced a wave of layoffs soon. But employees, former and current, are not going to leave it like that: they, together with the Game Workers Branch of the Independent Workers of Great Britain (IWGB), composed an open letter addressed to the company's executive leadership, accusing it of "longstanding disrespect and mistreatment."
"For years, you have expected them to adapt to your every whim, with those in disagreement being shut down or cast aside. We estimate a UK-majority of 250-300 workers across the company have now lost their livelihoods. These layoffs happened because you repeatedly refused to listen to your workforce’s years of experience, resulting in one of the worst video game launches this decade."
The workers point out a list of issues they faced at the company, including a lack of transparency and communication, "unbearable" levels of overtime (8 hours per week), "disastrous" handling of redundancies, and more.
"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. These and other errors have potentially resulted in the wrongful dismissal of dozens of staff members."
The authors describe their experience at the studio as one of "burnout, job insecurity, health issues, and the failure of a game that many of us have put years of our lives into."
Now, they demand:
- A public apology for this mistreatment of employees and proper compensation for laid-off employees;
- The option for remaining employees on redundancy notice to either work their notice period or take Payment in Lieu of Notice (PILON);
- A concerted, meaningful, and documented effort to improve conditions and processes within the company, including the acknowledgement of the IWGB as a trade union;
- A commitment to use official external partners to action any future redundancies and prevent unfair treatment.
The letter is signed by 93 BARB employees and ex-employees, as well as IWGB game workers.
Do you think the workers will get what they want? Join our 80 Level Talent platform and our Discord server, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Telegram, TikTok, and Threads, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.