Mark Gerhard, the co-CEO of MindsEye developer Build a Rocket Boy, has allegedly stated that a \u201cvery big American company\u201d called Ritual Network, a YouTube and TikTok management agency which is actually based in the United Kingdom, is behind a more than $1 million campaign to continue smearing the critically panned 2025 open-world flop.<\/p>\n
Insider Gaming<\/a> 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 \u201ca bunch of gangsters,\u201d and also directly named YouTuber Cyber Boi as one of the \u201cinfluencers\u201d involved in the MindsEye smear campaign. <\/p>\n Cyber Boi is the content creator who was recently threatened with a \u201cformal cease and desist demand\u201d by Gerhard, via the MindsEye Discord server last week<\/a>, following the release of a now-deleted video about ex-Rockstar producer Leslie Benzies and the Epstein files (Benzies stated this week that he\u2019s never met Epstein before<\/a>). Kotaku can confirm that an email address recently listed on Cyber Boi\u2019s YouTube channel did belong to Ritual Network.\u00a0<\/p>\n However, Gerhard\u2019s reported claim that Ritual Network is a \u201cvery big American company\u201d 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\u2019s publicly available tax returns state that its net current assets in February 2025, four months before MindsEye\u2019s June 2025 release, were somewhere around \u00a3800,000, or roughly \u20ac920,000. That\u2019s 80,000 shy of the 1 million euro sum reportedly alleged in the recording.<\/p>\n According to Insider Gaming, Gerhard stated during the internal meeting that Ritual Network and the content creators they allegedly paid \u201cwill all be served in person, criminal complaints, shortly,\u201d for criminal charges including \u201cespionage, sabotage, and criminal interference.\u201d The purported video call also made mention of an \u201cenhanced cybersecurity software\u201d called Teramind, which had been installed on Build a Rocket Boy employees\u2019 work systems without their prior knowledge.<\/p>\n Turning YouTuber drama into future MindsEye content <\/p>\n If true, that sounds an awful lot like the sort of futuristic, dystopian side plot that could be featured within the narrative of MindsEye.\u00a0Funnily 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. \u201cGiven this has happened to us, I\u2019m gonna own this narrative,\u201d he reportedly said. \u201cWe will use these people, these names and these facts for our own fun. We\u2019re gonna put some of these names into our upcoming spy mission.\u201d <\/p>\n In an official statement to Insider Gaming, Ritual Network stated that they are \u201cnot involved in the matter\u201d and that they are also unaware of \u201cany legitimate legal action involving Ritual Network and have not been provided with any evidence supporting these claims.\u201d<\/p>\n Build a Rocket Boy isn\u2019t backing down from its allegations, however. \u201cSadly, we do have evidence that there has been a coordinated campaign to purposefully and maliciously damage Build A Rocket Boy\u2019s reputation and undermine confidence in MindsEye,\u201d a spokesperson for the studio told\u00a0Kotaku. \u201cWe are working with our legal team and taking steps to address this.\u201d<\/p>\n