The news of Grand Theft Auto VI‘s year long delay has recently broken, and if you want to learn everything you need to know about the delay you can click here for all the details. With many fans eagerly awaiting the opportunity to get their hands on the highly anticipated next entry in the series, it seems to have at least temporarily turned many against Rockstar Games as the news was both unexpected and infuriating for fans.
During this period of heightened emotions in frustrated gamers, studio Build A Rocket Boy, created and owned by former Rockstar Games producer Leslie Benzies, has put out a post on their X page Everywhere NET that seems to mock the delay of GTA VI and hype the release of their own upcoming title MindsEye. The post emulates Rockstar Games’ post seen here, using the simple black background and white text format to update the fans.
Leslie Benzies, who was heavily involved in the development of the Grand Theft Auto franchise as well as many other Rockstar games, has had a bit of a personal and professional vendetta against Rockstar Games for some time now, and for seemingly good reason.
In early 2016 it was announced that Benzies had left Rockstar, and later that same year he opened a lawsuit against the studio for around $150 million dollars in unpaid royalties. Though 12 out of 18 of his claims were dismissed, he was entitled to receive certain royalties for compensation, and in late 2018 he founded Build A Rocket Boy Games.
Now we find ourselves in 2025 and the bad blood still seems to be lingering, but the post feels less like a direct attack on Rockstar Games, and more of a light-hearted jab that will stimulate conversation around their upcoming release MindsEye. If I’ve misread the situation and it goes deeper than that due to past resentments, it will certainly be interesting to see future interactions between Build A Rocket Boy and Rockstar Games.
Build A Rocket Boy hasn’t been the only studio to take shots at the official delay of GTA IV, as publisher Awaken Realms has made a similar update post on their upcoming table-top turned videogame Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon developed by Polish game studio Questline.
The team behind Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon has never been shy about poking fun at other studios and using humor to market their upcoming game with similar posts like this one below, that features in-game footage of the game’s combat while pretending to be showcasing Oblivion Remastered gameplay.
Though emotions are high amongst eager gamers, and tensions (light-hearted or otherwise) are rising in the industry, one thing seems clear to me; We have at least three excellent looking games on the horizon from three studios that seem to care a great deal about delivering a quality project to their fans.
We have an Elder Scrolls style open world fantasy RPG with Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon, a sci-fi third person action adventure with MindsEye, and a return to one of the most storied open world crime franchises in gaming history with Grand Theft Auto VI to look forward to. I see this as a win for gamers, but let me know what you think in the comments below.
