When The Day Before was first announced, fans the world over immediately fell in love with the pitch. It’s a post-apocalyptic MMO that has drawn comparisons to the Last of Us and The Division, complete with survival elements, open-world gameplay, and high-production values. It quickly became Steam’s most wishlisted title, and it has become super quiet since its delay.
That’s actually quite normal, except the delay itself was odd. About a month away from release, developer Fntastic announced it was delaying The Day Before, which is never a good sign so close to release, but also announced it was moving the game to Unreal Engine 5. Its goal was to do this in under a year and release The Day Before on March 1, 2023, which seems gratuitous at best. This is especially true given the recent update regarding its staff.
Something almost unheard of, The Day Before developer Fntastic has updated its site to reveal that the company works off of volunteers. Such a production being built off the back of volunteers is not a good sign. According to the website, Fntastic features full-time volunteers and part-time volunteers, which is an odd designation, and it seems full-time volunteers are limited but paid. The part-time volunteers get “cool rewards, participation certificates, and free codes” as compensation, and they do everything from moderation to translating.
“Fntastic’s culture is based on the idea of volunteering,” the site says, and the video attached to the site can only be described as odd. As one man describes the benefits of volunteering at The Day Before developer Fntastic, another stands there oddly, smiling. The man does speak near the end of the video, but the many reactions to this news range from confusion to suspicion and anger.
For many, this spells out employee exploitation, and for others, it smells like a scam. A few have already compared this The Day Before news to Abandoned, a game that caught tons of attention with little-to-nothing to show and many have deduced it as a scam. The Day Before has shown more than that, but not enough in a way to prove the game is legitimate. And to have such high production values in a game by a small developer is one thing, but to do so whose primary workforce is unpaid seems highly unlikely.
All in all, it’s a strange situation and it brings every Day Before trailer into an unusual light. Fans should wait and see how this unfolds, but perhaps treat the game with more skepticism than ever.
The Day Before is set to release on March 1, 2023.
Source: Well-Played