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A Disappointing Debut That Refuses to Fade Away
Few games released in 2025 attracted as much negative attention as MindsEye, the debut title from Build a Rocket Boy. Expectations were high, largely due to the involvement of former GTA producer Leslie Benzies, but the final product struggled to meet even modest standards.
At launch, MindsEye was widely criticised for severe technical issues, a lack of meaningful content, and gameplay systems that felt underdeveloped and generic. The response was swift, and the game quickly became a point of ridicule across social media and streaming platforms.
What is more surprising is not the scale of the backlash, but the fact that the game is still being actively promoted rather than quietly sidelined.
Build a Rocket Boy Continues to Push Visibility
Despite the overwhelmingly negative reception, Build a Rocket Boy has publicly maintained that MindsEye will receive long term support and improvement. These assurances have been paired with continued efforts to keep the game visible within the wider gaming audience.
Rather than stepping back, the studio appears intent on sustaining awareness through external promotion. This suggests that this title is still being positioned as a salvageable live product rather than a failed experiment written off internally.
That determination has now extended into paid creator marketing.
Paid Streamer Partnerships Are Still Ongoing
According to FRVR, Build a Rocket Boy is continuing to fund paid promotional content. One of the most visible recent examples involved Criken, a streamer and YouTuber with over 1 million subscribers.
The sponsored video was clearly disclosed, with appropriate advertising labels and hashtags included. The approximately ten-minute video was explicitly framed as a paid promotion for MindsEye, leaving little ambiguity around the nature of the partnership.
What remains unclear is whether this collaboration was arranged post-launch or if it was part of a pre-existing contract signed before the game’s release and subsequent backlash.
Player Numbers Remain Critically Low
Despite these renewed marketing efforts, the player engagement appears largely unchanged. While player data for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series versions is not publicly accessible, available figures on Steam paint a stark picture.
During the same period as the Criken promotion, MindsEye reportedly struggled to break out of the low 20s in concurrent Steam players. This is a dramatic fall from its all-time peak of roughly 3,000 concurrent users shortly after launch.
The numbers suggest that paid promotion has had little tangible impact on reviving interest or rebuilding an active player base.
With paid promotions still running and player numbers showing no meaningful recovery, MindsEye remains a high-profile example of how marketing alone cannot compensate for fundamental issues at launch.
