Vision Became Chaos. Leadership lessons from BARB 🎮

Every industry has its fallen stars, visionaries who once defined a generation, only to be undone by their own mythology.

Leslie Benzies is seemingly one of them. The creative force behind Grand Theft Auto, he helped shape modern gaming’s storytelling and scale. When he left Rockstar to found Build a Rocket Boy (BARB), expectations were sky-high. This was meant to be the next evolution and proof that lightning could strike twice.

But this summer, when MindsEye, the studio’s first release, finally arrived, it crashed spectacularly. Players called it broken, reviewers called it unplayable, and within weeks hundreds of staff were gone. What followed wasn’t just a failed launch but a public unravelling of leadership itself.

The BBC’s account of the collapse reads like a modern parable: too much vision, not enough focus; too much control, not enough trust.

So what can leaders everywhere learn from the wreckage of BARB?

1️⃣ Vision without discipline is chaos

Benzies had ambition, funding, and pedigree but no consistent direction. Projects shifted constantly. Teams didn’t know which version of the future they were building. Innovation demands focus. Great leaders dream boldly and execute rigorously.

2️⃣ Listening is leadership

Staff raised concerns, flagged problems, and asked for clarity. They were ignored. Refusing to listen kills trust. When leaders stop hearing their teams, those teams stop caring about outcomes.

3️⃣ Micromanagement kills ownership

Developers even coined a phrase for the founder’s constant interventions: “Leslie tickets”. Every passing thought from the boss became an urgent instruction. Empowerment beats interference. Leaders should clear the path, not fill it with detours.

4️⃣ Transparency beats conspiracy

After launch, Benzies blamed “internal and external saboteurs”. Staff were stunned. Blame is not strategy. Honest leaders own failure and fix systems, not people.

5️⃣ Pace without purpose burns people out

Mandatory overtime (“crunch”) pushed staff to exhaustion. Mistakes multiplied, morale collapsed. Sustainable performance needs rest and realism. The fastest route to burnout is calling it “commitment”.

6️⃣ Celebrate progress, not denial

Champagne flowed at launch while the game was clearly unfinished. Hope replaced honesty. Real leaders celebrate readiness, not ritual. Optimism is not a substitute for quality assurance.

7️⃣ Culture is the ultimate product

Barb’s failure wasn’t technical but cultural. Fear, silence, and inconsistency destroyed momentum. Culture compounds everything. If the workplace is broken, the product will be too.

8️⃣ Reputation is earned twice

Benzies’ GTA legacy didn’t save him. Past success doesn’t grant immunity. Every new venture demands new credibility.

9️⃣ Crisis communication defines legacy

When the company finally accepted responsibility, the damage was done. In crisis, speed, sincerity, and humility matter more than spin.

🔟 Resilience lives in people, not products

Even amid layoffs, staff spoke with pride and solidarity. They believed in each other, if not in the leadership. True resilience is collective. When leaders fall, shared purpose can still rise.

📝 The Staff’s Open Letter: A Voice from Within

In October 2025, an open letter addressed to the executive leadership at BARB by 93 current and former employees was published by the Game Workers Branch of the IWGB and it offers a blunt insight into the studio’s breakdown. They describe how leadership “refused to listen to your workforces' years of experience…”, an “unbearable” rhythm of mandatory overtime, “radical changes” without consultation, and a redundancy process “disastrously handled”. The letter declared "we estimate a UK-majority of 250-300 workers across the company have now lost their livelihoods."

These are not mere statistics. They are the human toll of leadership that lost its bearings. For a studio built on creativity, the letter highlighted how systems, teams, and trust collapsed faster than the product’s codebase.

Barb’s collapse is a reminder that creativity without clarity eventually consumes itself. You can have the most talented team in the world, the biggest budget, and the boldest ideas but if the culture is brittle, everything cracks.

Leadership is not the art of genius. It’s the discipline of coherence. It’s holding a vision steady while letting others shape how it’s achieved. It’s the humility to know that control isn’t the same as command, and that loyalty is earned through listening, not fear.

In the end, Barb didn’t fail because its people weren’t good enough. It failed because they weren’t trusted enough.

Every leader, be it in gaming or governance, tech or trade, should take note: Vision without stewardship isn’t leadership at all. It’s chaos dressed as genius.

💬 Where else have you seen great vision undone by poor leadership?