00:00Mind's Eye Studio faces employee protest over a community playtest event.
00:05Mind's Eye, the troubled action game from Build-A-Rocket Boy, has found itself back in the spotlight.
00:10But this time, the controversy is not about the game itself.
00:14Instead, attention has shifted to an upcoming community event hosted by the developer that some employees are protesting.
00:21Build-A-Rocket Boy recently announced plans to bring a group of community members to its Edinburgh headquarters for an
00:27in-person playtest.
00:29The studio is reportedly covering the attendees' travel expenses including flights to and from Scotland as well as hotel accommodations
00:36while also hosting a meet-and-greet with members of the development team.
00:41The event was intended to gather player feedback and allow fans to experience upcoming content firsthand.
00:47However, the decision had drawn criticisms from some current and former employees who argue that spending money on the event
00:54is difficult to justify following multiple rounds of layoffs at the studio.
01:00According to reports, Build-A-Rocket Boy has gone through several waves of job cuts over the past year, including
01:06a major round of layoffs in May that significantly reduced the size of the development team.
01:12Employees involved in the planned protest believe the company should be prioritizing support from remaining workers and those affected by
01:21the cuts rather than funding a promotional event.
01:24The protest is scheduled to take place outside Build-A-Rocket Boy's Edinburgh offices on July 11th, that's tomorrow from
01:34when I'm streaming this, considing with the community playtest.
01:38The event itself was announced through the studio's Discord community in June, where Build-A-Rocket Boy invited a small
01:45group of community members and confirmed that travel and accommodation costs would be covered.
01:51A post announcing the demonstration stated that company leadership was spending thousands on the playtest despite hundreds of layoffs, calling
02:01affected workers and supporters to join the protests and show solidarity.
02:05The Independent Workers Union of Great Britain, which has previously been involved in disputes within the games industry, has also
02:12become involved with the situation.
02:14The union has criticized Build-A-Rocket Boy's approach to layoffs and questioned the decision to rely on fans for
02:21tasks that are traditionally handled by paid development staff.
02:25In a statement shared online, the union accused the company of attempting to rebuild goodwill with players, while employees continued
02:32to deal with the consequences of layoffs.
02:34It also claimed that community members are being asked to perform testing duties that would normally be handled by professional
02:40quality assurance teams.
02:42Build-A-Rocket Boy has not publicly responded to the planned protest or the criticism surrounding the event.
02:49The situation highlights a larger debate within the gaming industry over layoffs, studio spending priorities, and the increased use of
02:57community involvement in areas that were once handled exclusively by developers.
03:05Damn, I didn't know there were studios that actually would pay for you, your travel, to come and test out
03:11a game.
03:14Damn, that's awesome.
03:17But there's really, this really, this is what they should have done to get people to play, to remedy this
03:28whole problem.
03:32They should have made it like a convention.
03:34If you're going to have like a meet and greet with the developers, and they're going to be able to
03:38play test the game, they should have said, all right, we're selling tickets to this.
03:44Anyone that wants to come, you know, anyone that wants to be part of this, we're selling tickets.
03:52And if you have to, limit the number of tickets you sell and tell people, but if you're coming to
03:57this, you've got to pay your own transportation, your own hotel, you know, all that stuff.
04:04And just pay for, but pay for people to come early play test the game at the convention, you know,
04:13like you would, like people would play demos and stuff.
04:17And basically turn it into a convention-like.
04:19Like, that's what I would, that's what I would do.
04:22People can still check out the game, they can still play test it, and give their feedback.
04:27But make some money off it.
04:30Why, um, so, and I wonder how many people he was plighting on paying transportation for.
04:39Um, how many, how many people was he going to put up in a hotel, how many people were they
04:44going to, uh, basically pay to come to this thing?
04:49It sounded like, it sounded like they should have just went the convention route, and if, at most, just limit
04:56the number of tickets that they could have sold to a convention like this.
05:00Um, but, yeah, um, on the other hand, looking at the cost, I understand.
05:06The studio, you know, if you're laying off thousands of people, it's not, it's, why are you, you're paying, you're
05:16paying for one thing that's not even usually needed when you can't, when you can't pay for object A.
05:22Why are you paying for B when you can't pay, when you can't pay all your expenses under the A
05:27column?
05:30Um, that also makes me wonder why.
05:35So, yeah, I don't know how this is going to turn out.
05:38Um, more ethically, I think it's wrong.
05:41Uh, because, like they said, so many employees are getting the, um, facing the brunt of layoffs, but they want
05:50to pay to bring a small community to playtest the game.
05:53Um, now, I don't mind, and the thing is, if you really just want people to playtest the game, make
05:59it so they can try it from their homes.
06:01Um, you know, getting community feedback is gonna, uh, is gonna, is, I think is valuable, because you're gonna find
06:10stuff that the developers overlooked.
06:12Whether they meant to overlook something or not.
06:15Um, so, I don't have any problem with bringing people in to, um, playtest it, but I don't think they
06:22should have their expenses paid to do it.
06:24And, like I said, just, you sure just made it, um, a convention, uh, that fans could come to if
06:33they were really interested.
06:34I still think they would have had some people show up.
06:36I don't know how many.
06:37I don't know how many they were, um, I don't know how many they were, uh, planning to bring, or
06:43how many they could afford to bring.
06:46But, I still think if that wasn't on the table, but people got to playtest this new game, um, I
06:53still think some people were shown up.
06:55And then they get to meet with the developers afterwards.
06:58Sounds like something that could have been a fun event if they treated it like, um, a fan, um, like
07:04a fan convention.
Comments