Atomic Heart

Atomic Heart launched February 21, 2023 into a firestorm of controversy that overshadowed the game itself. This Soviet retrofuturistic FPS from Russian developer Mundfish peaked at 38,469 concurrent Steam players and 281,985 Twitch viewers, sitting at 89% positive across 3,493 reviews despite the outrage. Ukraine's Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov sent official letters to Sony, Microsoft, and Valve demanding they ban the game, citing fears that revenue would fund Russia's war effort. Mundfish denied collecting user data for the FSB, called themselves "pro-peace," but refused to explicitly condemn the war or even name it—Sergey Mohov mocked their statement as "we're for all the good things and against all the bad ones." The game featured actual Soviet cartoons with racially insensitive 1978 imagery, and investor Anatoliy Paliy had ties to Gazprom, Russia's state energy giant. Metacritic scores ranged from 71-77, with IGN praising it as "deeply ambitious" but criticizing tedious fetch quests. StreamerHouse's 243-viewer peak in 2023 reflected cautious interest. By three weeks post-launch, 5 million players had tried it. Atomic Heart sold above expectations despite—or because of—the controversy, proving that culture-war drama is the ultimate marketing budget.