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."

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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."