Edinburgh studio Build A Rocket Boy enters administration after mass job cuts following troubled game launch

The useful part

A SCOTTISH games studio, launched by one of the former main producers of the Grand Theft Auto series, has fallen into administration after it made hundreds of employees redundant. Following the game's poor reception, around 300 jobs were cut by the studio in October last year, with around 150 of those roles based at the firm's base in Edinburgh. On Friday, it emerged on Companies House that the firm has now fallen into administration and could be sold to a new owner or closed down completely with its assets liquidated.

How it works

• "With a very heavy heart I raise my green [LinkedIn Open To Work] banner, along with the rest of my colleagues at Build A Rocket Boy," he wrote on his social media account.
• Employees also cited burnout, job insecurity and health issues whilst working on the game "that many of us have put years of our lives into".
• "I am 'Open To Work,' actively looking for a new adventure." Last year, 93 current and former employees signed an open letter, issued by the Game Workers Branch of the Independent Workers of Great Britain,...
• Glasgow City Council agrees to PAUSE fire and rehire process amid backlash The letter also claimed that all staff were made to work eight hours of overtime per week, with time off in lieu allegedly...
• MindsEye was released in June, but flopped (Image: BARB) Dan Hawkins, Barb's principal talent acquisition partner and HR operations, also implied the rest of the team at the studio had been made redundant.

What to take from it

These adverts enable local businesses to get in front of their target audience – the local community. It is important that we continue to promote these adverts as our local businesses need as much support as possible during these challenging times.

Example or evidence

• Edinburgh -based Build A Rocket Boy (Barb) was founded in 2018 by Leslie Benzies, formally one of the main producer behind the immensely popular Grand Theft Auto series, but has cut more than 300 jobs over...

Details worth keeping

It does not necessarily reflect the view of The Herald. Among those who said they had been made redundant last week was production QA analyst Cameron Deaves, who said his time at the studio was "coming to an end," along with level designer Liam Shannon and release manager Michaela Emslie.

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