Exec on former GTA 5 lead's new open-world game MindsEye says negative reactions have come from a "financed" and "concerted effort to trash the game and the studio"

You would think that a new game from one of the main people behind the 3D GTA games releasing in two weeks would be a much bigger deal, but MindsEye – the first game from Build A Rocket Boy, the studio founded by Leslie Benzies – hasn't been picking up much steam as of late.

Last week, Rockstar content creator SynthPotato reported on MindsEye previews from content creators and gave a rundown of all of the negative reactions to it so far, including a lack of depth in the combat, stiff driving, and being called "a broken mess, filled with bugs". Since then, Build a Rocket Boy's co-CEO has stated that they believe there is something more behind the negative response.

In a message on the MindsEye Discord, Mark Gerhard was asked if he believed that "all the people who reacted negatively were financed by someone," responding "100%." He then went on to say, "Doesn't take much to guess who," without elaborating on who or what he could mean. When another user pointed out that "a co-CEO for a studio implying another studio is paying previewers to talk negatively about your game is an absolutely wild comment to make in a public environment in any situation," Gerhard doubled down, simply saying, "not wild if it's true."

However, when another user asked if he could clear up that he believes people have been paid off to criticize MindsEye, he backed away a bit, saying, "No, I never said that, I do KNOW that there are bot farms posting negative comments and dislikes." He added, "I just said that there is a concerted effort by some people that don't want to see Leslie or Build A Rocket Boy to be successful that are making a concerted effort to trash the game and the studio. It's pretty easy to see the bots and the repeated replies to any content that we put out."