What went down
Employees at Build A Rocket Boy — the studio behind the much-maligned MindsEye — have slapped management with a legal complaint after monitoring software called Teramind was installed on company computers. The IWGB Game Workers Union says staff weren’t properly told about the software.
More than 40 workers reportedly signed a collective complaint in March demanding the tool be removed. Build A Rocket Boy did pull the software from devices, but the union says the studio still hasn’t said what data was collected, how it was stored, or why it was needed in the first place. The dispute has been passed to ACAS (the UK employment relations service) and the ICO (the UK’s data protection regulator).
Teramind’s sales pitch lists features like screenshot capture, screen recording, keystroke logging, app-usage tracking and even audio capture. The union argues the tool went well beyond reasonable productivity tracking and into serious privacy territory.
Why players and developers should care
This isn’t just office drama — it’s another stain on a studio already reeling from MindsEye’s disastrous launch and a wave of layoffs. The IWGB previously filed a complaint about how around 300 staff were let go after the game underperformed.
For players, this matters because trust and company culture influence post-launch support, patches, and future projects. A studio tied up in legal and PR messes is a studio less likely to focus on fixes, expansions, or the respectful handling of its community.
There’s also a bigger industry angle: workplace monitoring tools are increasingly common, and how studios use them could set precedents for privacy standards in game development. Regulators like the ICO getting involved suggests this could have wider implications than an internal HR spat.
What the studio says and what’s still unclear
CEO Mark Gerhard has publicly claimed the company has evidence of organized sabotage and corporate espionage, and said authorities in the UK and US have been informed. He’s also said an upcoming MindsEye update will add a mission called “Blacklist” that supposedly ties into those claims. Those points come from Gerhard and should be treated as his account — they’re not independently verified.
Right now the clear facts are limited: Teramind was installed, staff complained, the software was removed, and regulators have been notified. What remains fuzzy is exactly what data was captured and whether any concrete wrongdoing was actually occurring. That gap is why the union and authorities are pushing for answers.
TL;DR: another messy chapter in the MindsEye saga. Keep an eye on ACAS/ICO updates and any legal filings — this one could change how studios think about surveillance versus security.
