Mundfish / Focus Entertainment
Ukraine’s digital ministry says it will ask Steam, Microsoft and Sony to remove it. atomic heart From the Ukrainian gaming platform, and perhaps elsewhere, it points to its retro communist aesthetic and reported “Russian roots.”
As reported by Ukrainian tech news/job site Dev.ua (Google Translate), Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation (which also provided a statement in English to PCGamesN) wrote: atomic heart “It has Russian roots and glorifies communist ideology and the Soviet Union.” cites the use of funds from games of The statement calls for a complete ban on the game in Ukraine, but calls on other countries to consider “limiting the distribution” of the game.
The ministry also cites “media reports” that development funds from Russian companies and banks are under sanctions and of “systematic importance to the Russian government” (according to Google Translate).
Deputy Minister Oleksandr Bornyakov said in a statement, “I would like to emphasize to Western viewers that the developers of the game have not issued any official statements condemning the Putin regime and Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.”
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine almost wiped out the country’s international gaming industry presence. In March 2022, all major consoles abandoned the country and major developers stopped operating and selling them following a direct complaint by Ukrainian authorities. atomic heart Available now on the Xbox, PlayStation, and Steam (PC) marketplaces.
There’s a lot to unpack, some of which contain entities that are inherently difficult to pry open. Here’s what’s been reported so far, along with some insight into the game and its themes.
how about russian atomic heartdevelopers, really?
at least, atomic heart It is not completely separated from Russia, nor is it dormant in an economy heavily influenced by the state. The game is only available in Russia through his VK Play, a subsidiary of Vladimir Putin’s VK Group run by the former Prime Minister’s son and an ally of Vladimir Putin. Russia’s most popular social his networks, his VK Group and his VKontakte, are majority-owned by the media arm of energy giant Gazprom, which is majority-owned by the Russian government. CEO of Mundfish I used to work as a creative director at Mail.ruthe original entity of VK.
Developer Mundfish cites Cyprus as its international headquarters, but previously gave a video tour of the Russian-based office. AIN.capital, a site focused on tech news from Central and Eastern Europe, cited in January the privacy policy of Mundfish’s Russian store website, saying that user data could be used by tax authorities and Russia’s modern national security authorities. It has revealed that it may be forwarded to Russian state authorities, including the agency FSB. AIN.capital also cites its Russian legal address in its policies. In a response to GamesRadar, Mundfish denied collecting data and said its privacy statement was “outdated, wrong, and should have been removed years ago.” The Russian store appears to have been removed from his Mundfish site.
Game World Observer and on-site tweetSoviet-style flags and signs read: “Glory to Soviet engineers” and “Comrades, join the future society!” The game’s press event is not known for its delicacy or rigorous fidelity to the game’s full narrative. in this case, atomic heartThe exaggerated echoes of mid-century Soviet propaganda are on display, rather than the team’s beliefs and legacy. But for a Russian audience embroiled in a bloody war with Ukraine, hosting this lavish event in Soviet-era styling means a certain willingness to engage with the status quo Russia. .
Mundfish’s investors include Chinese gaming giants Tencent and GEM Capital. Anatoliy Paliy, founder of GEM Capital, previously served as first deputy head of the Gazprom division, and GEM is actively involved in the Russian energy market.Mundfish, like a GEM Claimed to game journalist Kirk McKind In January, it is now based in Cyprus and has no investments from Russia. You can read more about GEM, Gazprom, and the network of hard-to-proven but highly plausible connections during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in our PC Gamer detailed account.
