Kyiv-Based Studio Artificial Core Says Some Employees Still Stuck In Ukraine
Since the conflict in Ukraine started a few weeks ago, the country has received an outpouring of support from the whole world including several video game companies. Studios that have offices in the affected regions are also doing everything they can to support their employees and their families as events continue to escalate. Among these studios is Corepunk developer Artificial Core which is based in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.
Artificial Core says that they’ve managed to relocate their employees to Greece and other European countries but some of them are still stuck in Ukraine.
“At this point, most of our team is safe in Greece, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Austria and Norway; we have active offices in Athens and Amsterdam. Part of the team is in western Ukraine, which is relatively safe. Meanwhile, some team members and their families are still in dangerous central Ukraine, with slim prospects of getting out (at least for now). Several team members stayed there voluntarily to help out and protect their fellow Ukrainians.”
The studio also reports that they’ve lost contact with two of their team members following heavy bombardment from Russia over the past few days. “There is regular street combat and no cellular coverage in these areas. We are continuing to try to reach them and offer any help we can. Until then, we hope they are OK,” says the studio.
“Many of us have friends and family traversing dangerous roads to safety and sleeping in bomb shelters. Meanwhile, the news shows us images of the cities we grew up in being gradually demolished with 500 kg bombs as the civilian death toll rises every few hours. In conditions like these, it’s been hard to focus, even for those of us in Athens and Amsterdam. Once you’ve done what you could and some time has passed, though, it seems you can get used to anything: Those of us in safe areas, as much as possible, are gradually returning to previous mode of operations.”
The team apologizes for the recent lack of communication and assures the community that development continues on the open world MMORPG.
“We’re sorry for staying silent until now,” the team says. “We were in emergency mode, and it was hard to even sit down and write these few lines. We’d also like to thank everyone for their kind words of support — they mean so much to us right now. Don’t worry about Corepunk. We’re continuing our work, and the game is going to be great. Life is unpredictable, but you give it your all and you carry on.”
More information can be found on the Corepunk official site.
