In the story with the scandalous Russian studio Mundfish, a developer of the Atomic Heart game, some new fascinating details have become known. According to the privacy policy on the company’s store website, Mundfish collects users’ data and may provide it to Russian state authorities, in particular, the FSB.
Quick overview of what is wrong with Atomic Heart
- Atomic Heart is positioned by the developers as Bioshoсk-like Soviet shooter.
- The game is developed by Mundfish studio, which claims to be international with an office in Cyprus, but it is Russian in fact.
- It is sponsored by Russian investors, including an ex-Gazprom top manager with close ties to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska and the sanctioned VTB bank.
- Therefore, it’s no wonder that Mundfish studio never commented on the war in Ukraine and didn’t condemn Russia either. In a recent tweet, developers stated that they “do not comment on politics.”
- You can find out more about what is wrong with Atomic Heart and its developers by the link below.
New concerns for users: be ready to provide all your data to Russian FSB agents
The privacy policy published on the studio’s website directly refers to the collection of user data, and the possible transfer of this data to Russian state authorities, in particular, the tax office and FSB.
It is interesting that this document is available only in Russian and is not available on the English-language version of the store.
As for whose data will be collected in this way, the studio explains: the data subjects are all customers/consumers and visitors of the mundfish.com website, including those who are going to purchase the studio’s services and products.
Moreover, the authors of this policy, citing the legislation under which the data are collected, also mention Russian mobilization laws, under which soldiers are currently being recruited in Russia to continue the criminal war against Ukraine.
Why is it important?
The studio’s privacy policy is direct proof that Mundfish is a Russian company (that is what it literally states by specifying the studio’s legal address in Moscow as well). But if you still believe that Mundfish is an “international” developer, ask yourself why does a Cypriot company that is “out of politics” want to comply with legislation on mobilization in Russia and transfer data to Russian special services?
A rhetorical question, the answer to which, we hope, will reduce the interest of the Western gaming community in this project.