Atomic Heart Ban Requested by Ukraine Deputy Minister of Digital Affairs

wccftech.com:

The current state between Ukraine and Russia is quite dire at the current moment. The latter has seen a massive number of bans from various companies that severely impacted its infrastructure. Now, Ukraine is asking for a particular piece of media. That being the recently released game by Mundfish, Atomic Heart.

In this game, the main player, as a KGB officer, is tasked with eliminating the consequences of a large-scale accident that causes machinery to rebel against the people. Failure to do so could lead to the destruction of the entire world. The game takes place in an utopian society described as "The Future USSR" according to the game's key features.

Of course, that's not the only reason why the game has been recently targeted for a ban in Ukraine. The game's developer and publisher Mundfish has allegedly received funding from state-owned and pro-Russian companies. The current point of contention lies with the recent funding that they got from the Russian state-owned energy Corporation Gazprom.

This lead the Ukraine Minister of Digital Affairs to formerly ask the Sony, Microsoft, and Valve to ban the game's sale in Ukraine. According to dev.ua (translated by Gagadget), the Minister Alexander Bornyakov asked for the ban of digital distribution in Ukraine while also encouraging limiting the distribution of the game in other countries:

We 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.

Atomic Heart developer publisher Mundfish was founded in Moscow, but much of the team has relocated