IO Interactive CEO, Hakan Abrak Reflects on MindsEye Fallout

The debut release under IOI Partners, MindsEye, quickly turned into a disaster. Developed by Build a Rocket Boy—founded by former Rockstar North president Leslie Benzies—the game launched on June 10 with widespread technical issues.

As a result, social media became flooded with videos highlighting bugs, while reviews arrived late due to withheld codes. Consequently, MindsEye ended up with a Metacritic score of just 37 on PC and 28 on PS5.

IOI’s Publishing Ambitions

IO Interactive became independent in 2017 following a management buyout from Square Enix. Later, the studio published Hitman 3 on its own. In 2024, however, it expanded its ambitions by launching IOI Partners, a publishing label designed to bring other developers’ projects to market. MindsEye marked the label’s very first release.

As reported, IO Interactive CEO Hakan Abrak explained the reasoning behind the partnership, “We thought they had some great ideas and a great world in the background that they were building, and hopefully they’ll get the opportunity to show more of that in the future. And we just wanted to help them distribute the game.

A Difficult Reception

Even so, Abrak admitted that the launch proved far from ideal. “Well, that was definitely tough, right? It was a tough reception. It wasn’t what they hoped for, and also what we didn’t hope for at IOI Partners. They’re working hard on turning that around to regain the trust of the gamers out there, and they have tons of potential and content they’re working on. So hopefully they’ll succeed with that in the future.”

What’s Next for IOI

However, when asked whether IOI still plans to publish other studios’ games, Hakan Abrak expressed doubt. “IO Interactive will publish our own games internally,” he said. “IOI Partners? That remains to be seen.”

Meanwhile, IOI continues work on its next major project, 007 First Light. The game will launch on March 27, 2026, for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2, and PC. Furthermore, fans recently received their first look at the title in a brand-new gameplay trailer.

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