Staff at Build a Rocket Boy (BARB), the Edinburgh studio behind the poorly received game MindsEye, are due to picket outside the studio's offices on Saturday 11th July. They are protesting against an "all-expenses-paid" fan event the developer is hosting the same weekend, at which community members will be flown in to play an updated build of the game. Workers object to the studio funding such an event given the multiple rounds of redundancies it has made, making this a notable flashpoint in an ongoing labour dispute in the games industry.

The protest, beginning at 10am local time, will be joined by members of the Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain (IWGB), other unions and the public. It follows a turbulent year: BARB laid off over 100 staff shortly after MindsEye's release, cut more roles in March, and let a further 170 go in May. Studio founder Leslie Benzies and co-CEO Mark Gerhard have alleged "organised espionage and corporate sabotage" affected development, prompting the installation of surveillance software Teramind (since removed) on staff devices. The IWGB, which alleges this breached data protection rules, launched legal action in April, while 93 current and former employees signed a letter last October criticising leadership over alleged "disrespect and mistreatment".