Der har været flere store fiaskoer i spilbranchen på det seneste, men sammenbruddet omkring Build a Rocket Boys MindsEye er uden tvivl et af de mest usædvanlige. Spillet var et teknisk rod ved lanceringen og manglede de lovede funktioner, men den mest opsigtsvækkende udvikling kom, da studiets ledelse hævdede, at den katastrofale udgivelse delvist skyldtes "organiseret spionage og korporativ sabotage" fra unavngivne kilder.
Dette skete samtidig med en række kontroversielle udtalelser fra ledelsen, herunder anklager om, at udviklerne var "dovne og inkompetente", mens de ansatte på projektet modsat hævdede, at titlen var "plaget fra starten". Det var et kollaps af episke proportioner.
Nu, hvor vi nærmer os etårsdagen for udgivelsen, har Build a Rocket Boys CEO og CTO, Mark Gerhard, talt med GamesBeat om forløbet. Her kom han med flere indrømmelser, mens han tegnede en plan for fremtiden:
"We're very excited about this next chapter. We know we had, without doubt, the worst launch in history. And obviously there's many reasons for that, but we are planning to relaunch our game now that the interference has stopped. The game is being very well-reviewed. The sales are increasing organically, doubling almost weekly. All of that's very positive. We like being able to control our own destiny as an independent studio. We want to be close to our players. We want to be listening to the community and evolving their game in an organic way."
Omkring de opsigtsvækkende anklager om spionage og sabotage forklarede Gerhard, at studiet blev overrumplet:"We were kind of caught flat-footed on that. We didn't counter the negative narrative. We weren't sophisticated enough to have done that. But, we're aware. We've called that out. Some of the negativity has been orchestrated around this, and thankfully, as a result, it stopped."
Gerhard hævder desuden at have faste beviser:"We've got very strong evidence of this and conducted quite thorough investigations over the months since launch. We've identified parties involved, and it's now with the authorities both U.K. and U.S. to deal with. I can confirm that they're assisting us with this investigation, but it's also in their hands now. We'll leave them to do what they do, make their arrests or any announcements in due course. I think we're not saying anything further at this stage on that. We'll just let the natural course of justice take its path."
Han understregede dog, at de tekniske problemer og fejl ikke kunne tørres af på andre: "Det var vores skyld. Det ejer vi som ledelsesteam og som studie."
Der venter nu en lang vej for MindsEye, som officielt har afbrudt samarbejdet med udgiveren IO Interactive. Studiet står over for den enorme udfordring at genopbygge tilliden til et fællesskab, der føler sig svigtet.
Når genlanceringen finder sted, vil du så give MindsEye en chance til?