IWGB sues Build a Rocket Boy over secret employee monitoring software

Build a Rocket Boy is facing a legal fight over software employees say was installed in secret, turning a security tool into the latest flashpoint inside a studio already rattled by layoffs and a failed launch. The Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain says the company put Teramind on staff devices without telling them, then removed it in March 2026 after 40 workers signed a collective grievance.

The union moved ahead with legal action on April 21, saying it wants answers on what data Teramind collected, how that data was stored, and why the software was installed at all. It says the practice violated data protection law and the workforce’s basic dignity. Workers had already started asking questions earlier in 2026, when their computers began running more slowly and the monitoring tool surfaced as the likely cause.

The dispute comes on top of a damaging run for the studio. Build a Rocket Boy, founded by Leslie Benzies in 2016, brought in former Jagex chief executive Mark Gerhard as co-chief executive in 2024. Its debut game, MindsEye, launched globally on June 10, 2025, and drew heavy criticism. By early 2026, the company was cutting deep: the union says it filed separate legal claims on April 12 over an allegedly mishandled redundancy process tied to around 300 layoffs after the game’s poor reception and sales.

Gerhard has publicly framed the studio’s troubles as a security crisis. On March 5, 2026, when he announced further layoffs, he blamed what he called “organized espionage and corporate sabotage.” That message collided with workers’ account of a studio where surveillance software appeared first, and explanation came later.

For game workers elsewhere, including Nintendo staff who split time between office, home and hybrid setups, the warning is less about one monitoring product than about how quickly trust can break when management reaches for digital oversight before it explains its reasons. Studios handling source code, assets, build pipelines and proprietary tools do have legitimate security concerns. But when employees feel watched rather than consulted, the damage can spread beyond privacy complaints into morale, retention and the studio culture that high-quality game development depends on.