Daniel Poluyonny never thought that his game company based in Ukraine would become the home for his employees who were victims of the Russo-Ukrainian war.
Poluyonny is the CEO of N-iX Game & VR Studio, a game studio in its 20s that employed tens of thousands of game developers in pre-war Ukraine. The studio is based in Lviv, in the safer western part of Ukraine, but also has offices in Kyiv which is now the center of much of the fighting.
Quoted from Venture Beat, Poluyonny wants to inform the public that his company continues to operate despite the war situation, and they can still complete tasks for their main clients based in the United States and Europe. But he also wanted to convey how difficult it was to live during the war.
In an interview, Poluyonny said that more than 200 game developers at his company are working on about 20 different projects, including Rahul Sood's Irreverent Labs game Mecha Fight Club.
Work continues, and they have good internet access. However, the chaos also continued. There was one time when they were having an online meeting, the internet connection of a number of meeting participants was cut off due to a rocket attack which apparently damaged the internet cable.
"Anyone who comes to Lviv and has no place to live can stay in our office. We have adapted our office like a shelter with a bed. Or there is a fully equipped kitchen, bathroom and so on. People can hang around there while looking for a place to live," he said.
In his office now, a number of people can be seen camping and various items are scattered all over the room. Poluyonny welcomes him with the aim of providing a safe place for employees to work and continue to earn a living without distractions.
Ironically, Poluyonny is separated from his employees at this critical time. When Russian soldiers crossed the border on February 24, Poluyonny happened to be on vacation in Spain. He could not return to the country, so he went to Krakow, Poland. Since then, Poluyonny has run his company from there.
Poluyonny said his team worked hard to complete all of their work, despite the challenges of relocation. "We have not lost our existing clients. On the contrary, they are very supportive of us. Right now we are deploying almost 100% of our capacity," he concluded.