The Ukrainian government has requested that digital retailers such as Steam and Microsoft quit selling the recent action game Atomic Heart.
The country is claiming that funds from the game could go to supporting Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Ukraine’s “Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation” Alex Bornyakov released a statement calling on gamers not to buy the game, in addition to his call to ban the game from sale.
Atomic Heart is a distinctly Russian story that borrows heavily from the aesthetics of the defunct Soviet Union.
Alex Bornyakov had this to say according to a translation of his statement from PCGamesN:
“Regarding the situation with the release of the game Atomic Heart, which has Russian roots and romanticises communist ideology and the Soviet Union, The Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine will send an official letter to Sony, Microsoft, and Valve requesting a ban on selling digital versions of this game in Ukraine”
“We also urge limiting the distribution of this game in other countries due to its toxicity, potential data collection of users, and the potential use of money raised from game purchases to conduct a war against Ukraine.”
“According to media reports, the game’s development was funded by Russian enterprises… Therefore, we call for all users worldwide to avoid this game. We also want to emphasise that the game developers have not publicly condemned the Putin regime and the bloody war that Russia has unleashed against Ukraine.”
Atomic Heart is available (for now) on Windows PC (via Steam), Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5. The game was also confirmed for Xbox Game Pass from day one.
