5 mistakes MindsEye made that GTA 6 should avoid

GTA 6 is set to be released on May 26, 2026, and ahead of its arrival, it is perhaps crucial to discuss MindsEye. The 2025 open-world title was the brainchild of former Rockstar North President Leslie Benzies, who had also been a producer for games like GTA 3, 4, and 5. The title was developed by Benzies' new studio, Build A Rocket Boy, and some rumors suggested that tens of millions of Dollars were spent on making it.

Unfortunately, when MindsEye finally released, it disappointed players across the board almost instantaneously. Therefore, this article will go over five mistakes the title suffers from that GTA 6 should avoid.

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MindsEye's 5 mistakes that GTA 6 needs to avoid at all costs

1) Rushed release

MindsEye was not well-prepared for its launch (Image via IO Interactive)

MindsEye was reportedly in development for nearly eight years. While this is a long enough time for a game to be crafted into a masterpiece, when MindsEye was finally released on June 10, 2025, it looked very problematic. It was riddled with bugs, glitches, and major gameplay errors.

For a game nearly a decade in development, MindsEye did not live up to the expectations of fans or the studio. A BBC report suggested that employees had to work overtime for nearly two months ahead of the game's release. While this is a somewhat common occurrence in the industry, it caused a major regression in MindsEye's development process, resulting in poor growth.

GTA 6 must avoid rushing the release at all costs. Thankfully, it looks like Rockstar Games already took care of this issue by delaying the title for one more year, till May 2026.

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2) Ignoring feedback

MindsEye's upper management allegedly ignored staff feedback (Image via IO Interactive)

One of the biggest issues with MindsEye's development was the seemingly rampant persistence in ignoring feedback. An open letter signed by 93 current and former employees of Build a Rocket Boy accused the upper management of refusing to acknowledge or listen to the feedback of the experienced staff. This ultimately resulted in mass layoffs by the company. The letter read:

"These layoffs happened because you repeatedly refused to listen to your workforce’s years of experience, resulting in one of the worst video game launches this decade."

Certainly, this is not a mistake any studio wants to make with a game worth as much money as GTA 6.

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3) Mismanagement

GTA 6 is set to be launched almost one year after MindsEye (Image via Rockstar Games)

According to the same open letter, redundancies were handled poorly. Management sent confusing messages to the staff and even assigned employees to the wrong group, resulting in errors and mistakes. This managerial issue was a major setback for the game's development process, making it difficult for programmers and developers to do their jobs well.

Naturally, GTA 6 needs to avoid this by streamlining its management and taking enough time to address any ongoing issues as soon as possible.

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4) Restrictive gameplay

MindsEye keeps you on a strict schedule (Image via IO Interactive)

MindsEye makes a point of keeping you on track from one mission to another. On paper, it is an open-world game. However, once you start playing, there is often very little time to explore the world, and if you try to do so, you will likely fail your mission. This ultimately forces the player to restart the mission, allowing very little space to experience the game's actual world.

This makes its gameplay rather restrictive and robs players of the open-world effect altogether. GTA 6 is already expected to be a very immersive open-world experience. Restricting gameplay for such a title would be a major let-down for everyone.

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5) Poor writing

GTA 6 shows well-written characters ahead of release (Image via Rockstar Games)

Finally, MindsEye falls victim to extremely poor writing. The dialogues, interactions, missions, and the overall narrative fell flat and did not deliver the cinematic experience promised by the trailers and marketing.

GTA 6 needs to keep up the franchise's legacy of extremely well-written characters, engaging storylines, and memorable character interactions. Without it, the game may upset fans despite its immersive gameplay.

With Dan Houser out of the picture, it is currently unclear how the game's story will be shaped under a new writer or creative team. Regardless, fans certainly expect a highly engaging story.

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These are five mistakes made by MindsEye that GTA 6 needs to avoid in order to continue its franchise's legacy of highly successful open-world games.