"Shit happens," the studio commented after it was closed together with the game.
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When I found out The Day Before was the most wishlisted game on Steam, I was, to be honest, surprised as it didn't strike me as something so many players would want. Admittedly, I'm not the target audience for this game, but the fact I hadn't heard about it before then made me wonder. I shouldn't have worried, though: soon after, this open-world MMO survival got a lot of attention. Too much even, I'd say.
After delays and questionable gameplay videos, fans started losing faith in the developer Fntastic and bashing the team for false advertising: the trailers just didn't look like what the studio had shown the world before. The trademark dispute pushed the game from its initial release date even more, and soon Fntastic was accused of scamming players.
Image credit: Fntastic
By now, you've probably heard that The Day Before finally launched but was shut down together with the whole studio only 4 days later. The title was released on December 7 to Overwhelmingly Negative reviews on Steam and a 0.4 rating on Metacritic, and 46% of those who played it demanded refunds.
At the moment, The Day Before's publisher Mytona is considering the future of the shooter and giving out refunds left and right.
Image credit: Fntastic
But what about Fntastic? The team is pushing back against accusations, claiming they didn't get any money from the game's sales. As for why it failed, well, "shit happens," as they put it.
"This was our first big experience," which is true, although I doubt it's going to excuse anything or placate the raging fans who blame Fntastic for selling them a game that looks nothing like early trailers – it's hardly a matter of first experiences.
In its haste to close the company, Fntastic removed every video from its YouTube channel, so you can't check how close The Day Before was to the footage from there. Moreover, the game is not available for purchase on Steam anymore, which marks one of the shortest lives for such a popular game.
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