MindsEye developers sign open letter calling out studio executives for "longstanding disrespect and mistreatment"

Developers at MindsEye studio Build a Rocket Boy have signed an open letter accusing its leadership of refusing to listen to staff and failing to treat employees professionally.

The details:

• The letter, signed by 93 former and current employees at the studio alongside the Game Workers Branch of the Independent Workers of Great Britain union, claims that studio executives have engaged in "longstanding disrespect and mistreatment" of staff. "These layoffs happened because you repeatedly refused to listen to your workforce's years of experience, resulting in one of the worst video game launches this decade," the letter reads.
• According to the letter, employees have been subjected to "unbearable" hours of overtime. Prior to MindsEye's disastrous launch, developers were required to work eight hours of mandatory overtime per week, with time off compensated at a rate of seven hours for every eight hours worked. However, it is claimed that employees have been unable to take time off because of "continued requests for extra 'high-priority' work."
• Employees also assert that there has been a lack of clear communication with leadership, leading to execs “often making radical changes to the way we worked with little or no input from those affected.”
• Another major accusation is that Build a Rocket Boy's management of post-launch redundancies has been "disastrous." "We believe you have consistently mishandled the redundancy process, causing confusion and distress for all staff," the group wrote. "Employees have received misinformation, been handed dismissal notices with the wrong notice periods, and been put in the wrong teams so that their performances were scored by the wrong people. These and other errors have potentially resulted in the wrongful dismissal of dozens of staff members."
• The group is now requesting that the studio take a number of actions in response. This includes a public apology for the mistreatment of staff, acceptable compensation for those affected by layoffs, the option for those on redundancy notice to work their notice period or take Payment in Lieu of Notice, the ability for employees to reach out to external partners in regard to mistreatment, and a “concerted, meaningful, and documented effort to improve conditions and processes within the company, including the acknowledgement of the IWGB as a trade union.”