The Day Before recently launched on PC via Steam Early Access. If you followed its long-running saga, it’s a cathartic moment. Finally, this game, which looked so good at the start and suffered so many delays and an unfortunate trademark dispute, is out. Developer Fntastic had also committed to long-term patches and support, using community feedback to help build the game everyone wanted.
Aaaannndd it’s about five days later, The Day Before has an “Overwhelmingly Negative” rating on Steam, Fntastic announced its shutting down, and the game’s future is unknown. You would think 2023 would close out without a major controversy, and lo and behold, you would be wrong. If ever there was a time to ask, “What the hell happened?”, it would be now.
According to Fntastic’s statement, The Day Before has “failed financially”, and it lacks the funds to continue development. The income received thus far will be used to “pay off debts” to its partners. “We invested all our efforts, resources, and man-hours into the development of The Day Before, which was our first huge game. We really wanted to release new patches to reveal the full potential of the game, but unfortunately, we don’t have the funding to continue the work.”
It also noted that no money was taken from the public during development – no pre-orders or crowdfunding campaigns, and it worked “tirelessly for five years, pouring our blood, sweat, and tears into the game.” The studio also apologized for not meeting expectations, claiming it did “everything within our power, but unfortunately, we miscalculated our capabilities” while affirming that game development is “an incredibly challenging endeavor.” Servers for The Day Before and its previous game, Propnight, remain available.
How much did the game sell in early access? Was Fntastic’s funding completely tapped by launch time, and how much did it expect to sell to keep going? If success hinged on a few days’ sales, why did the studio commit to a six to eight-month early access period with the promise of additional content, like new items, weapons, equipment, cars and houses? You don’t just suddenly wake up and realize all the money for development is gone and then hit the panic button.
Will there be refunds for those who took the plunge? While Fntastic notes all “income” is going towards paying off its debts to partners, publisher MyTona confirmed that it’s working with Steam to offer refunds to those who opt for the same. Nevertheless, it does nothing to resolve claims that the developer “took the money and ran.”
Whatever the case, it became more apparent over the past year that The Day Before had an uphill battle to win approval. After the initial screenshots and trailer in 2021, many advised caution over the game’s fidelity and how it may not end up as impressive. Hilariously, Fntastic claimed that the graphics would look “even better” in the final product, which did little to assuage concerns. At the time, it was dubbed an open-world survival MMO. Keep that in mind for later.
Extensive gameplay was released a few months later, with The Day Before slated for Q2 2021. Of course, that launch never happened. In October, the developer announced a delay to June 2022. When the month arrived, another delay was announced to March 2023, along with the decision to switch to Unreal Engine 5. Alarm bells were already going off in a post-No Man’s Sky, post-Anthem, and post-Redfall gaming world, and many waited to see how things panned out.
Of course, by the time 2023 started, we were about two months off from the supposed launch, and no new gameplay was revealed. Fntastic announced that new “raw” gameplay footage would arrive sometime in January, and then a week later, announced another delay to November 10th due to a trademark dispute. The delay was planned before the dispute arose, but many asked the same question: Why did the studio wait to announce it till now?
Finally, the gameplay debuted, and to say it was a step down from the 2021 footage would be an understatement. There was running. There was scavenging. There wasn’t much compelling content, but it was a real game, guys, we swear. Interestingly – or unsurprisingly – the previous trailers and footage had been privated on YouTube. Almost like Fntastic was trying to cover its tracks. It was likely due to the trademark dispute, and at that point, many were waiting for The Day Before to launch to see the scale of the disaster.
The idea of a beta was floated around April by an admin on The Day Before’s discord (which never manifested), and a trademark for Dayworld popped up in September. However, in the same month, Fntastic announced a final delay to December 7th, with the trademark dispute supposedly resolved. Furthermore, it shifted from a full launch to an early access release and retailed for $39.99.
Another new gameplay trailer was released, and once again, many felt it was nowhere near the level of the original 2021 footage. On its early access page, The Day Before sounded like an extraction shooter, but it was still touted as an open-world survival MMO.
Days before launch, Fntastic published a statement almost blatantly foreshadowing events. It thanked players, volunteers and supporters, including a “partner who believed in us despite all the difficulties” (who hopefully didn’t invest too much into the project). However, it also addressed those “who didn’t believe in us”, and asked forgiveness for “not doing the best marketing and teasers.”
It also asked not to be accused of scamming since it “didn’t take a penny from anyone” or for making an “asset flip.” “We are like you; we work hard. And we’re incredibly happy that our game will finally see the light of day for everyone to explore.”
Of course, The Day Before launched in early access, and many discovered that it wasn’t an open-world survival MMO but an extraction shooter. Performance issues, no melee, lackluster survival elements, barely any open buildings to explore in the city, no vaulting, barely any zombies, horrendous servers – the list goes on. Of the 19,819 user reviews on Steam, only 17 percent are positive. And now, we’re here.
Perhaps the strangest twist is that the trademark dispute was legit. TheDayBefore is a calendar app by a company called The Day Before Inc. that began distribution in 2010 and has over 40 million downloads as of February 2023. How Fntastic and publisher MyTona resolved the dispute is unknown.
How this messed up saga played out is a mystery, and we may never get all the answers. There are reports and threads about how the game’s trademark wasn’t filed until January 2022 with links to all of the Unreal Engine asset packs supposedly used in development, but take all of it with a grain of salt. You could check out the latest tweet from DayZ, which essentially parodies Fntastic’s closure statement and ends with “10 years and still undefeated.”
Some have pointed out that The Wild Eight, Fntastic’s first game, now lists Eight Points as the developer. Surely, this isn’t the same studio, right? Time will tell.
For now, The Day Before is yet another cautionary tale for players. If something is too good to be true, it usually is, and if a game is delayed multiple times with numerous downgrades and dodgy communication, you may want to look forward to something else.
Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.
