It was recently revealed that the Ukrainian government plans to file a petition to stop Valve, Sony, and Microsoft from selling Atomic Heart, a Soviet-themed post-apocalyptic game, in Ukraine.
Developed by Russia’s Mundfish, Atomic Heart depicts a highly trained soldier fighting for survival against a robot insurgency in a romantic, utopian version of the Soviet Union. In the Atomic Heart universe, the Soviet Union grew remarkably prosperous, annexed surrounding nations, and became a technological marvel of a nation.
Now the Ukrainian government is asking for the game to be removed from digital stores – but only in Ukraine.
Atomic heart in hot water
In recent weeks, Atomic Heart’s developers have been accused of farming personal data, criticized for featuring racist art in the game, and questioned for some of the most disappointing parts of Atomic Heart’s editing itself.
In the latest update on the conditions of Atomic Heart and Mundfish (seen in Yahoo!), the government of Ukraine has expressed its intention to bring a case against Sony, Microsoft and Valve with the express intention of stopping the sale of Atomic Heart in the country.
Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation, Alex Bornyakov, passionately said today:
We also urge you to limit the distribution of this game in other countries due to its toxicity, possible data collection of users and possible use of money collected from game purchases to wage war against Ukraine.
The game has reportedly been removed from shelves in Ukraine, but digital purchases are still allowed – exactly what the Ukrainian government wants to stop.
Bornyakov went on to specifically state that the development of Atomic Heart was made possible by Russian investment in the studio, and that developers Mundfish have not openly condemned the Putin regime and the “bloody war that Russia has launched against Ukraine”.
Lately, Atomic Heart have found themselves succumbing to the weight of controversy and bad press, and just a few days ago developer version leaked onlinewhere all game files are downloaded for anyone to download.
It is even speculated a sexualized robot character The one featured in Atomic Heart was created in reference to the former Prime Minister of Ukraine.
At the time of publishing this article, Insider Gaming has reached out to Mundfish and Focus Entertainment for comment.
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