Ukraine wants Atomic Heart banned and will send an official request to Sony, Microsoft, and Valve to pull the game off their storefronts. The country wants its distribution limited because the developer of the game, Mundfish, allegedly has ties to Russian state-owned energy corporation Gazprom. Additionally, when asked, the developer hasn’t outright denounced the invasion of Ukraine, which leads many to believe Mundfish either supports it or is ambivalent about it.
Ukraine calls for Atomic Heart ban as the game faces multiple controversies
Atomic Heart has flirted with controversy since its announcement in 2018 (primarily accusations that it’s was vaporware). However, calls for a ban have only come since shortly before its release.
Developer Mundfish allegedly received funds from Gazprom and state-owned and pro-Russian companies. Despite being officially headquartered in Cyprus, the dev team is allegedly predominately Russian.
The Ukraine Deputy Minister of Digital Affairs, Alexander Bornyakov, made this statement to Dev.UA (translation via GaGadget:
“We also call for limiting the distribution of this game in other countries due to its toxicity, potential collection of user data, and the possibility of transferring it to third parties in Russia, as well as the potential use of money raised from game purchases to wage war against Ukraine.”
This isn’t the only criticism Atomic Heart is facing. Now that it’s released, players have noticed a character that seems to be based on a former Ukrainian prime minister. Additionally, racist imagery has been found among the cartoons that play in the game’s save rooms.
