Developer Mundfish’s first title is called Atomic Heart, a sci-fi tale that heralds the idea of a utopian USSR created by science. Set just a few years after the Holodomor, which prompted Russia to methodically starve the Ukrainian people with an estimated death toll in the millions, Atomic Heart tells the story of a proud USSR and accompanied its publicity with images strong Soviets and Russians. and statements. With the continued invasion of Ukraine, Atomic Heart has been a constant source of controversy, but are there any verifiable links to the Russian government?
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Atomic Heart’s Russian Links, Quickly Explained
If you’re looking for a quick answer, yes, there are financial ties between the Russian government and Mundfish. These ties, however, may be more a consequence of Russia’s didactic control over its media and businesses. Moreover, they were performing long before Russia invaded Ukrainian soil. Mundfish, in almost every respect, worked hard to remove the Russian tag once the invasion began.
Atomic Heart’s Russian Links, In-Depth
Investors in Mundfish, the developer of Atomic Heart, have been linked to GEM Capital, an investment fund that has direct ties to majority Russian state-controlled companies Gazprom and VTB Bank, as described in its press release. press of the Series B funding round. Mundfish also opted to partner with a Russian company VK to avoid sanctions on Steam, which is also a company majority-controlled by the Russian state through Gazprombank.
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However, it’s worth noting that Mundfish CEO Robert Bagratuni was VK’s creative director. Artem Galeev and Oleg Horodishenin, the other founders of Mundfish, are also from the Russian Federation. Oleg Horodishenin has since removed his LinkedIn profile, at least from public view. Our requests to Mundfish for clarification on these links have so far been ignored.
According to Mundfish’s own press releases, this means that the Russian state will benefit from the success of Atomic Heart as a commercial title. Additionally, Mundfish said he plans to make it a “big franchise” for the studio.
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Mundfish has gone to great lengths to sever its apparent ties with Russia since the invasion. While Mundfish is currently listed as a company in Cyprus, it was initially mentioned in Russian media as a Russian studio with an office in Moscow. Russia’s sudden move to Cyprus could be a way to avoid conscription, rather than a way to appease international critics of the studio’s location. AIN Capital noted that Mundfish’s website policy stated that visitor data could be collected and sent to Russian state authorities, although this policy was later removed from the website, with Mundfish stating that it was ” obsolete and erroneous”.
¿Es Mundfish pro-Kremlin?
There are plenty of undeniably pro-Russian statements that have emerged from Mundfish, albeit steeped in doublespeak and a rather liberal use of certain terms, such as peacekeeping. First, the release of Atomic Heart (outside of Steam) took place on February 21, 2023, oddly marking the one-year anniversary of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s announcement of Russia’s recognition of “separatist regions in eastern Ukraine, which predated the current conflict which continues to this day. Perhaps the date is little more than a fluke, but it would be a great coincidence of a study that seems adamant in refuting its links to Russia.
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Second, Mundfish released a few statements about its position on the current war, but nothing was concrete. One of the studio’s favorite phrases in these commercials is that it’s a ‘pro-peace organization.’ This is not the warning from Russia that many might receive, as Russia views its invasion of Ukraine as a “peacekeeping” mission based on Putin’s February 21, 2022 announcement.
Many Russians unequivocally believe that Ukraine harbors super-Nazis and that the “peacekeeping” mission is just that: trying to quell unrest in the country. The constant stream of images showing mass graves, executed civilians and the aftermath of other horrors are dismissed as “manipulated” propaganda pieces by Ukraine. Mundfish may have bought into that narrative, but they don’t seem too interested in talking about it.
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