Highlights
- The Day Before was released in a disappointing state, far from its ambitious promises, leaving paying customers feeling deceived.
- Fntastic announced the closure of the studio just days after the game's release, attributing it to poor sales figures and using the game's income to pay off debts.
- Fntastic's handling of the situation, including removing the game from platforms and providing contradictory statements, has fueled frustration and outrage among fans.
The Day Before is a title that had high expectations prior to release, being billed as an ambitious project that would put its development studio Fntastic firmly on the map of the gaming industry. Originally announced in 2021 as an expansive survival MMO set in a zombie-ravaged dystopian future, it is clear to see why the premise of the game originally drew so much attention from prospective players.
After many delays and trademark disputes, The Day Before was recently released in a state that was completely unreflective of what it originally promised to be. Playing more like a basic extraction shooter set on a small and underwhelming map, paying customers were immediately disappointed and felt lied to. While there was a brief glimmer of hope in the way of post-launch support to salvage the title, a recent announcement by Fntastic has caused widespread outrage, rightfully drawing attention from every corner of the industry.
The Day Before Continues a Frustrating RPG Class Trope
The Day Before has a lot of problems, but one of its most significant is its approach to class-building, which is unfortunately all too common.
Fntastic's Bizarre Shutdown Leaves Paying Players in the Dark
The controversy surrounding The Day Before was already uncomfortably big in the days following its December 7 release, but no one could expect that Fntastic would announce its closure as a studio less than a week after the game's launch. This news came in a quiet social media post from the studio, which cites the poor sales figures of The Day Before as the reason behind its shocking shutdown.
Fntastic labeled The Day Before as a financial failure just four days after the game was released, stating how all income received from the title is being used to pay off pre-existing debts that the company owes to its partners. Of course, this infuriated the many players who purchased the game, with the studio's shutdown ending any concept of post-launch support for The Day Before and leaving it in a perpetual state of buggy early access.
Fntastic's Social Media Conduct Has Made Things That Much Worse
Since then, Fntastic has begun completely removing itself from the internet, with The Day Before being de-listed from Steam and things like promotional trailers for the game being taken down from YouTube. This has led to long-term followers of the project feeling completely alienated and potentially scammed, though Fntastic has attempted to make amends following the predictably intense backlash to its shutdown announcement.
In more recent social media posts, Fntastic claims that it is attempting to negotiate a complete refund policy with Steam for everyone who purchased The Day Before, with the studio also stating how it will "receive nothing from The Day Before sales" financially. While the studio is not directly profiting from the disastrous launch of The Day Before, it seems as if it has used the sales revenue of the project to pay off its debts before shutting down all support for the game, with outrage persisting as a result.
It is unclear what kind of profits Fntastic has made from The Day Before, with its contradictory statements on debt payment and refunds creating even more confusion for paying customers.
Further response from Fntastic to fan frustration has made matters even worse, with a recent reply to a disgruntled player simply stating "This was our first big experience. Sh*t happens." Players have also noticed that Fntastic appears to have already re-branded, with Steam listings for some of its previous games now naming the studio as Eight Points instead of Fntastic. Killing all support for such a high-profile game just four days after launch is arguably one of the largest gaming controversies of the year, and the continued actions of Fntastic make it no wonder that fans are so upset with the studio.
The Day Before
Following a terrible pandemic, players must survive in the harsh post-apocalyptic world of The Day Before filled with infected monsters and other opportunistic survivors. An MMO and survival game from FNTASTIC, The Day Before boasts an open-world, multiplayer environment where players can scavenge and fight for their lives.
- Platform(s)
- PC
- Released
- December 7, 2023
- Developer(s)
- Fntastic
- Publisher(s)
- MYTONA
- Genre(s)
- Open-World , Zombie
