The Day Before Delayed Again, Fntastic Shares New Trailer and Big Update

01.11.2023 - 17:41 / ign.com / New

The highly anticipated and controversial post-apocalyptic open world MMO The Day Before has been delayed again to December 7, 2023, but will only launch in Early Access on Steam with no word on a console release date.

Developer Fntastic shared a big update on the game alongside a three minute trailer, below. The delay to December 7 at 10am Pacific / 1pm Eastern / 6pm UK is The Day Before's third delay, and comes with the first mention of it only launching in Early Access and not on consoles at the same time (and after a promise of no more delays).

The PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S versions will be released alongside the full version of the game, but Fntastic offered no inclination as to when this may be.

"It will be Early Access on Steam since this is our first huge game, and there may be unforeseen circumstances," Fntastic said. "[The] full version release will happen when we are certain this is the best version of the game possible, and we believe that player feedback and involvement will greatly contribute to achieving this goal."

The developer also confirmed it won its trademark dispute over The Day Before name, and said the Steam page has already been restored by Valve and will be opened "very soon". The Steam page was taken down in January 2023 and Fntastic pushed The Day Before to November 10 as a result, though later admitted to IGN it had already planned on delaying the game.

"We dedicate this victory to all our future players; it's all for them," Fntastic said. "For five years, we have been doing our best to give people this dream game. We also want to thank our volunteers for their constant support and faith in us." Its "volunteers" were also a source of controversy when it emerged Fntastic partially uses unpaid workers to develop The Day Before.

The developer separately confirmed to IGN that only these "volunteers" will be able to access The Day Before's long-awaited beta. Announced in April 2023, the beta would "give players the opportunity to try out the game before it is released", Fntastic said.

General players won't be able to access the beta after all, however, only "volunteers". Per Fntastic's website: "External volunteering is an opportunity for those who are willing to offer their skills and talents to improve the Fntastic community. External volunteering includes various activities, from translation to community moderation."

The developer won't be taking preorders for The Day Before, but did confirm its Steam Early Access price tag will be $39 and its full version price will be $49.

Its minimum PC requirements were also confirmed. The Day Before requires an Intel Core i5-8400 or AMD equivalent processor, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 or AMD equivalent graphics card. An SSD is preferred