Explaining the ‘Atomic Heart’ controversy and links to Russian state

Ties to Russian state & calls of ‘propaganda’ 

Putting aside anything thematic where Atomic Heart is concerned, Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation is convinced the game is impacting ongoing conflicts in a very real way. 

Developers Mundfish are a Russian development studio with unquestionable (and some dubious) ties to state government, plus an inner circle of investors closely linked to Putin.  

Without feeding into unfounded claims, Mundfish is financially backed by a former deputy general of Gazprom, Russia’s state-controlled energy behemoth, and Atomic Heart is distributed by the Gazprom-owned VK Play, the nation’s equivalent of Steam. 

The president of this platform, in-fact, is the son of Putin’s deputy chief of staff, Sergey Kiriyenko, who happens to be under sanctions from the US for his role in organising referendums in contested areas of Ukraine.

One can deduce, therefore, that some funding from the game’s sales will surely be traceable back to Russian government. Given Putin has reportedly hiked military spending 40% higher than declared budgets, this fact is not sitting well with Ukrainian officials. 

Its Ministry of Digital Transformation has sent an open letter to Microsoft, Sony, and Valve requesting that digital sales of the title be completely suspended within Ukraine. The company also urged other countries to abstain from purchasing Atomic Heart due to its ‘toxicity’ and ‘potential use of money to conduct a war.’ 

Faced by swarms of concerned Twitter-goers, developers Mundfish refused to be drawn on the situation, proclaiming its team as a ‘pro-peace organisation’ but declining to address issues of ‘politics or religion.’ 

Last January, the company contested  allegations it had been harvesting data for the government following the discovery of a clause in its digital terms of service. This stated that user data could be submitted to Russian authorities including the tax office and Federal Security Service. Mundfish labelled the report as ‘outdated and wrong.’ 

A video from Ukrainian YouTuber Harenko, meanwhile, has accrued 2 million views entitled ‘Please, don’t buy Atomic Heart,’ in which he refutes claims that the game is not propaganda or political as ‘nonsense.’

Straight up based the sex slave robots design off of Yulia Tymoshenko… The leader of the Ukrainian 'Batkivshchyna' political party pic.twitter.com/Y0hmef2xHB

— Dinka Kay | TENEBRIX (@DinkaKay) February 21, 2023

Many of those with the same opinion point to the uncanny resemblance between Atomic Heart’s sex robots and the leader of Ukraine’s ‘Batkivshchyna’ political party Yulia Tymoshenko. No smoke without fire? We’ll deal in the facts, for now. 

What we know for sure, is that games are seriously big business these days. Far and away the most lucrative industry within the bracket of entertainment, there are potentially huge economic revenue streams to capitalise on. 

Perhaps the political affiliations and connections of game makers should become another research point for us conscious consumers. With Atomic Heart, there’s surely more to play out.