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[Draugoth]

First shared by Kotaku reporter Ethan Gach, a popular streamer called CohhCarnage has claimed that his sponsored MindsEye stream that he was set to do earlier today was canceled at the last minute by the game's developer. In fact, the canleation was so last-minute that CohhCarnage was apparently loading up MindsEye and getting ready to play when he received the email.



Spotted by TheGamer, a Reddit post by a PS5 owner claims that MindsEye players on that platform are guaranteed a refund (if they want one) because PlayStation Support said it was aware of the game's optimization issues and are investigating the situation. Additionally, a person going by Wolfgang on X shared what appears to be a PS5 refund message from Sony. It states that: "Usually, we are not allowed to process refunds for games that were downloaded because of the PlayStation Store cancellation policy." But since this player was supposedly having issues with MindsEye, it was granted.

Article:

PS5 Players Say They're Getting MindsEye Refunds

Source: https://www.gamespot.com/articles/ps5-players-say-theyre-getting-mindseye-refunds/1100-6532383/

 

[DeepEnigma]

 

[Dr.Morris79]

 

[bender]

So many agendas against this game.

 

[Dr.Morris79]

So many agendas against this game.

Is this the quickest a game has ever been pulled from stores?

 

[ultrazilla]

 

[Imtjnotu]

 

[bender]

Is this the quickest a game has ever been pulled from stores?

From PSN, you'd have to compare it to Concord or Cyberpunk.

 

[Lucifers Beard]

So many agendas against this game.

I'm not sure what's been going on with regard to agendas, but from what I've seen of the game, it looks like a hot mess on par with CP2077 launch. On top of that, it doesn't sound like the game (outside of bugs and performance problems) isn't really too great either.

 

[adamsapple]

 

[Dr.Morris79]

Jesus..

And that's just the haircuts.

 

[bender]

I'm not sure what's been going on with regard to agendas, but from what I've seen of the game, it looks like a hot mess on par with CP2077 launch. On top of that, it doesn't sound like the game (outside of bugs and performance problems) isn't really too great either.

Ask adamsapple , he started the agenda war against MindsEye.

 

[adamsapple]

Ask adamsapple , he started the agenda war against MindsEye.

To be fair I was paid for it.

 

[Dr.Morris79]

From PSN, you'd have to compare it to Concord or Cyberpunk.

I never touched Concord and bought Cyber on disc, yeah, that was pretty damn bad, but I swear both these games lasted a bit longer

Or my memory is complete bunk (Which is true)

 

[Giallo Corsa]

Mmarsu in an undisclosed location right now :

 

[Arsic]

I never touched Concord and bought Cyber on disc, yeah, that was pretty damn bad, but I swear both these games lasted a bit longer

Or my memory is complete bunk (Which is true)

Both concord and CP2077 took at least 2 weeks before refunds were offered.

This is a 24-48 hour record.

The studio is done. GGEZ.

 

[bender]

Mmarsu in an undisclosed location right now :

Update your camera feed:

 

[nowhat]

Honestly, I have no feeling about this game one way or another. Will probably play it when it hits 10€ or PS+. But shit games come and go, so it's business as usual.

But all the drama, and these threads, oh man. It has made me remember what I truly love about gaming. The popcorn.

 

[DeepEnigma]

To be fair I was paid for it.

 

[Eesha]

To be fair I was paid for it.

paid in peanuts or cashew?

 

[Dr.Morris79]

Both concord and CP2077 took at least 2 weeks before refunds were offered.

This is a 24-48 hour record.

The studio is done. GGEZ.

Damn, that's bad

What a waste.

 

[Kvally]

I never touched Concord and bought Cyber on disc, yeah, that was pretty damn bad, but I swear both these games lasted a bit longer

Or my memory is complete bunk (Which is true)

Concord took 11 days. So this is faster.

 

[Killer8]

MindsEye is proof that you can serve up literal unplayable trash and someone, somewhere, will still turn up to defend it.

 

[nowhat]

Both concord and CP2077 took at least 2 weeks before refunds were offered.

And just to reiterate, once again. It was CDPR who told people that they can get a refund - Sony obliged, and also delisted the game. When it comes to Concord, it was their own title and it was going nowhere.

But I can't think of an example where Sony would have offered refunds otherwise. I'll be glad to be proven wrong, but reference please.

 

[adamsapple]

Concord took 11 days. So this is faster.

Unless I'm mistaken, this is still on sale and they're offering refunds.


Concord (and Cyberpunk's PS4 version) were literally removed from the Store.

 

[Baemono]

Wow I didn't expect Cyberpunk level of situation

 

[IDKFA]

Amazing.

I can't believe that any publisher can release such an unfinished product and think "This will be a massive hit". They must of known how broken it was? It looks like this needed at least another 12-18 months in the oven.

 

[Dr.Morris79]

Unless I'm mistaken, this is still on sale and they're offering refunds.

Imagine buying it and checking the email receipt and it says 'we'll refund this, don't worry'

 

[Kacho]

This is getting out of control. Ion Storm 2.0 but I doubt they live long enough to put out a Deus Ex.

 

[DeepEnigma]

The Benz fixed RDR and broke this one.

Time to call in a Porsche.

 

[rodrigolfp]

Is this the quickest a game has ever been pulled from stores?

In what universe the game was pulled from stores??

 

[Nydius]

I can't believe that any developer can release such an unfinished product and think "This will be a massive hit". They must of known how broken it was? It looks like this needed at least another 12-18 months in the oven.

Based on the 2023 Eurogamer interview and other articles I've been able to find, both Everywhere and MindsEye have been in development, in tandem, since around 2017. I don't think another year would have made much difference.

Pure speculation on my part but I'm betting they were up against a deadline from investors or they were rapidly running out of capital and needed to get something, anything, to market.

 

[Kacho]

Pure speculation on my part but I'm betting they were up against a deadline from investors or they were rapidly running out of capital and needed to get something, anything, to market.

If that's the case then the jig is up.

 

[Mr Hyde]

An unmitigated disaster. You would think that the industry learned a valuable lesson from Cyberpunk but here we are. And these motherfuckers have the audacity to ask for money for shit like this. Like we're sheep who just mindlessly consume anything without asking questions.

 

[Dr.Morris79]

In what universe the game was pulled from stores??

For Sony, of all companies, to be 'offering' refunds this quick, it might as well been.

 

[Rush2112]

Imagine not playing any of the GTa classics but paying for this. You deserve what you get.

 

[Mister Wolf]

I wonder at what point did they realize it was going to bomb. They had to know before release.

 

[Unknown?]

I wonder at what point did they realize it was going to bomb. They had to know before release.

Probably when they ran out of money and were forced to ship.

 

[IDKFA]

Pure speculation on my part but I'm betting they were up against a deadline from investors or they were rapidly running out of capital and needed to get something, anything, to market.

If this was down to investor pressure then it was a dumb move by the investors. They had a choice. Release a broken mess - which gets poorly received and now refunded - or wait until the game is ready with a far higher chance of making a return.

 

[xrnzaaas]

I only hope they won't drag IOI with them.

Also, while I can understand the need for releasing the game as a 'now or never' move, but why keep wasting money on marketing until the last minute?

 

[rapid32.5]

UE5 is cursed.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Give Les Benzies, the execs who quit a few days ago and all the employees who made a bad game forcing it launch broken.

The studio formed in 2016 with a few people, but then would had ramped up at some point (where the current employee count is somewhere around 300-450 pending which google check site is accurate).

Give credit where credit is due. Another example of a massive grift of investment money to pay for salaries for years towards a junk game for gamers. If accurate, I read $150M of money towards this trash studio.

 

[AmuroChan]

If this was down to investor pressure then it was a dumb move by the investors. They had a choice. Release a broken mess - which gets poorly received and now refunded - or wait until the game is ready with a far higher chance of making a return.

Not if the money has dried up. Keeping development going means you have to keep paying the staff. At some point they must have realized that this game was unsalvageable.

 

[Nydius]

If that's the case then the jig is up.

Like I said, that's just my educated guess based on what I could find.

I find competing data on the total amount of finding BARB has gotten. Pitchbook (quasi-paywalled) says $309M over the life of the studio, another says $151M since September 2020. Both agree that they got a big infusion of ~$110M in funding in January 2024. That was the last reported funding push. The second source says they reported 275 employees as of December 2022, but the Eurogamer article in June 2023 said they had over 400 employees.

Everywhere and the first episode of MindsEye was due to be available by the end of 2023 and it's taken an additional 18 months just to get this cobbled together end product.

Unless Benzies is funding it completely out of pocket with whatever settlement he got from his Rockstar lawsuit, I can't imagine BARB has much cash left.

Edit:

If this was down to investor pressure then it was a dumb move by the investors. They had a choice. Release a broken mess - which gets poorly received and now refunded - or wait until the game is ready with a far higher chance of making a return.

I don't disagree but if BARB was given a hard deadline in that big infusion of cash back in January 2024 (which is possible), moving the date further may not have been negotiable.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Not if the money has dried up. Keeping development going means you have to keep paying the staff. At some point they must have realized that this game was unsalvageable.

Skimming streamer videos, the game has shit loads of dialogue cut scenes which are surprisingly decent looking. So looks like they funneled a ton of budget to cinema clips and ran out of cash IMO. Makes no sense the clips are pretty good but the rest of the game is lousy and broken. But that seemed to be their product strategy.

 

[SILKYSMOOTH30FPS]

But it had a Rockstar dev in it, how could it have failed?

 

[Pasta la Vista]

Somebody must have paid Sony to remove from the store, only reasonable explanation.