Mundfish, the development studio behind the upcoming shooter Atomic Heart, is currently in something of a controversy surrounding the war in Ukraine. Mundfish is a Russian development studio and in the past, Twitter users in particular have wondered if the company received money from the Russian government for the development of Atomic Heart.
Atomic Heart: Controversy over funding from Russian government
The studio hasn’t made a definitive statement on the matter, but posted a couple of tweets on their official Twitter account on Jan. 16. Mundfish writes that they do not comment on “politics or religion” and that the studio represents a “global team focused on bringing Atomic Heart (buy now €69.99 ) into the hands of gamers around the world.” Mundfish goes on to explain:
“We do not, and never will, condone contributors or spammers using offensive, hateful, discriminatory, violent, or threatening language or content.”
The Atomic Heart developer’s tweets have received quite a bit of backlash from Twitter users over the past few days. For example, Sergey Mohov, who worked at Remedy Entertainment among other things as the lead gameplay designer at Control, criticized Mundfish for the studio’s refusal to mention the current Ukraine war in their statement.
Atomic Heart is set in an alternate reality where Russia won WWII outright. The protagonist is a KGB agent of the Soviet Union in 1955. Mohov therefore goes on to explain that in this setting it is quite nonsensical for Mundfish not to want to comment on “political issues”.
“We are for all good things and against all bad things. Imagine having the incredible privilege of being in a position like this. I can’t take it anymore.”
Atomic Heart is scheduled to be released on February 21st this year for PC, Playstation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. While the controversy(s) surrounding the game has not yet reached the level of, say, Hogwarts Legacy, Atomic Heart may face a much bigger “shitstorm” in the days before release.
