Fntastic, the studio behind the controversial survival game, The Day Before, has announced its closure. The announcement came at the same time the studio closed its doors following the launch of The Day Before just four days prior. The game, which has been in the news over the past year for all the wrong reasons, has also been delisted from Steam.
The Day Before was announced back in 2021 in a flashy CG trailer. The game immediately caught the attention of gamers and it became one of Steam’s most anticipated titles. However, as time went by, the studio held back on showing gameplay and rumours started to swirl that it was being built by volunteers using so-called “ripped assets”.
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The first gameplay was then revealed and players dubbed the game “The Walking Simulator”. Concern was also raised when the so-called “gameplay” didn’t include any HUD or menu systems. Players assumed it was all faked. The Day Before was then delayed due to a trademark dispute.
The Day Before was then released on 7 December and the launch didn’t go down well. Players immediately bashed its bland open-world, buggy gameplay and shallow mechanics. It was sitting on 2/10 on Steam just days after its launch.
Fntastic finally opened up about the state of the game and it wasn’t what players expected. While many of them thought the statement would promise a bright future for The Day Before, it was the complete opposite. Fntastic announced that the studio would be closing its doors due to financial strain and pulling the game from Steam.
“Today, we announce the closure of Fntastic studio. Unfortunately, The Day Before has failed financially, and we lack the funds to continue. All income received is being used to pay off debts to our 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’s important to note that we didn’t take any money from the public during the development of The Day Before; there were no pre-orders or crowdfunding campaigns. We worked tirelessly for five years, pouring our blood, sweat, and tears into the game.”
At the moment, The Day Before is still available on Steam but there’s no purchase option. At launch, the game sold for $39,99.
“At the moment, the future of The Day Before and Propnight is unknown, but the servers will remain operational. We apologize if we didn’t meet your expectations. We did everything within our power, but unfortunately, we miscalculated our capabilities. Creating games is an incredibly challenging endeavor.”
Players have requested refunds for The Day Before and many of them are receiving them. Developers and publishers in the video game industry have criticised Fntastic for its false advertising saying that The Day Before is actually a small-scale extraction shooter with no open-world survival mechanics.
