How the Idea for The Cube Started With a ‘Boring’ Phone Call

Mundfish Studio, the team behind Atomic Heart, is once again leaning into the surreal with its next project: The Cube. Described as an MMORPG shooter set within a giant, levitating structure composed of rotating rows and edges, The Cube is built around a mystery that holds the potential to alter the laws of reality. While its concept might sound like something born from organized brainstorming, the true origin of The Cube is far more spontaneous and interesting than some might expect.

Game Rant recently spoke with Atomic Heart director/Mundfish Studio founder/CEO Rob Bagratuni about the initial inspiration for The Cube, which initially seemed like it would be as multi-faceted as the concept. However, it actually all began with a phone call that Bagratuni found himself increasingly bored with.

The Call That Sparked The Cube

After the launch of Atomic Heart, Mundfish Studio quickly became known for its ability to create surreal game worlds, so it’s not surprising that the concept of The Cube feels just as abstract. While the team could have spent years simply trying to iterate on the ideas they had already realized in Atomic Heart, Mundfish’s earliest spark for The Cube didn’t come from a design pitch or brainstorming session. Instead, it came from pure mental drift.

Bagratuni explained that one of the studio’s core values is embracing complex, wild, often bizarre game ideas. This philosophy, which he describes as “craziness and bravery,” is what allowed The Cube to exist in the first place. When asked about what inspired the concept of a levitating, rotating cube as a space for gameplay, Bagratuni said,

“We’re the kind of team that always has some kind of crazy idea. We call it ‘craziness and bravery.’ Sometimes they’re hard to grasp. Particularly with The Cube, I was on call, a very boring and very long call, and the person was talking for a very long time. It was really not exciting. It was very hard to concentrate, so I started drawing Tic-Tac-Toe squares in my notebook.”

That idle distraction is something almost anyone can relate to, but this particular moment ended up leading to something far more extensive than just a fun little sketch on paper. As Bagratuni continued drawing, his mind started to wander until he eventually saw the idea for The Cube in his head. He knew right then and there that he needed to get his ideas into someone else’s head before they fizzled out, so he took appropriate action. Bagratuni continued,

“Suddenly, this cube just appeared in my head. It was just there and connected. Our co-founder, executive producer, and myself left the meeting; we excused ourselves, telling the others that we needed to leave urgently. Then, over the next two hours, we started brainstorming and coming up with the concept of The Cube. The whole idea just kind of came together.”

Of course, coming up with the idea was only the beginning. The real challenge was turning what Bagratuni saw in his head into a real, functional set of innovative gameplay mechanics. The Cube‘s core gameplay loop would thus revolve around a massive, moving object with interconnected systems, so it’s naturally something that most engines would struggle to handle, let alone in real time with online multiplayer in play. According to Bagratuni, the team encountered numerous obstacles during development, but those same challenges became a source of motivation.

This is largely because what Mundfish truly wanted out of The Cube would impact more than just the game’s visuals. Something of this caliber would require a level of engineering that doesn’t currently have a strong foundation in the industry that Mundfish could use as a springboard. As such, the team had to use all of their tools and knowledge to explore this technological space that very few, if any, had explored before. In fact, Bagratuni described it as a “technological breakthrough,” not because it looks great, but because it actually works:

“It’s probably the first time in the industry that something like this is possible. It’s definitely a technological breakthrough because, before, it was impossible to use the engine to ensure that so many objects could be simultaneously rotating and still provide a stable online experience. There was a lot of effort put into it. People were telling us it was crazy, that it couldn’t be done, but here we are. Here we are.”

Sometimes, the biggest ideas begin with the smallest distractions, and The Cube is proof of that. What started as a scribble during Bagratuni’s “boring” phone call eventually became what already sounds like one of Mundfish Studio’s most ambitious projects yet. Once The Cube is fully realized, it will ultimately have been because Bagratuni and the team at Mundfish followed their instinct to explore something strange, trust their tech, and build what many said would be impossible.