Mark Gerhard, the co-CEO of MindsEye developer Build a Rocket Boy, has allegedly stated that a “very big American company” called Ritual Network, a YouTube and TikTok management agency based in the United Kingdom, is behind a more than $1 million campaign to continue smearing the critically-panned 2025 open-world flop.
Insider Gaming reports that Gerhard spoke about the alleged conspiracy in an internal meeting with other Build a Rocket Boy staff. Per an alleged recording of his remarks, Gerhard supposedly referred to Ritual Network as “a bunch of gangsters,” and also directly named YouTuber Cyber Boi as one of the “influencers” involved in the MindsEye smear campaign.
Cyber Boi is the content creator who was recently threatened with a “formal cease and desist demand” by Gerhard, via the MindsEye Discord server last week, following the release of a now-deleted video about ex-Rockstar producer Leslie Benzies and the Epstein files (Benzies stated this week that he’s never met Epstein before). Kotaku can confirm email address recently listed on Cyber Boi’s YouTube channel did belong to Ritual Network.
However, Gerhard’s reported claim that Ritual Network is a “very big American company” appears to be false as the company lists Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire as its registered address. It seemingly employs fewer than 20 individuals. Also, Ritual Network’s publicly available tax returns state that its net current assets in February 2025, four months before MindsEye’s June 2025 release, were somewhere around £800,000. That’s 80,000 shy of the 1 million euro sum reportedly alleged in the recording.
According to Insider Gaming, Gerhard stated during the internal meeting that Ritual Network and the content creators they allegedly paid “will all be served in person, criminal complaints, shortly,” for criminal charges including “espionage, sabotage, and criminal interference.” The purported video call also made mention of an “enhanced cybersecurity software” called Teramind, which had been installed on Build a Rocket Boy employees’ work systems without their prior knowledge.
Turning YouTuber drama into future MindsEye content
If true, that sounds an awful lot like the sort of futuristic, dystopian side plot that could be featured within the plot of MindsEye. Funnily enough, Gerhard also apparently stated that he wishes to use the names of those associated with Ritual Network in a MindsEye mission in the future. “Given this has happened to us, I’m gonna own this narrative,” he reportedly said. “We will use these people, these names and these facts for our own fun. We’re gonna put some of these names into our upcoming spy mission.”
In an official statement to Insider Gaming, Ritual Network noted that they are “not involved in the matter” and that they are also unaware of “any legitimate legal action involving Ritual Network and have not been provided with any evidence supporting these claims.”
Build a Rocket Boy isn’t backing down from its allegations, however. “Sadly, we do have evidence that there has been a coordinated campaign to purposefully and maliciously damage Build A Rocket Boy’s reputation and undermine confidence in MindsEye,” a spokesperson for the studio told Kotaku. “We are working with our legal team and taking steps to address this.”
Build a Rocket Boy is ostensibly in the middle of trying to reboot the failed 2025 blockbuster. A surprise February 4 update was pitched as part of “a reset for the brand and the title” which will kick off the beginning of a “new era” for MindsEye. The shooter still has a less than 50 percent positive rating on Steam and only 40 concurrents in the game.
