The Day Before Developer Shuts Down Less Than A Week After Launch

11.12.2023 - 22:49 / thegamer.com

Fntastic is shutting down. This comes just days after the launch of its most recent game, The Day Before, which has been met with overwhelmingly negative reviews from fans and critics alike.

This news comes very suddenly, with Fntastic saying that The Day Before has "failed financially". It's not clear why the team was in such a hurry to write the supposed MMO off as a failure, given the long-term nature of live service games. Instead, the developer is already confirming that there won't even be any patches, let alone content updates, as the studio "lack[s] the funds to continue".

"Today, we announce the closure of Fntastic studio," the statement opens. "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."

It continues: "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."

In truth, the statement raises more questions than answers. It says that the team "worked tirelessly for five years", pouring its "blood, sweat, and tears into the game", which only makes the full studio closure after just a matter of days all the more confusing. In any case, Fntastic seems to be implying that it was under some considerable financial strain before The Day Before launched, making the game's release its final opportunity to earn enough money to pay off its apparent debts.

If true, then it's clear that The Day Before wouldn't have been the game to save Fntastic from its woes. Despite some hype before launch, it currently has "mostly negative" reviews on Steam. Many players say that the developers misled customers, as the game is advertised as an open-world MMO, but is more akin to a standard extraction shooter.

Despite the future of the game being uncertain, The Day Before is still being sold on Steam at the time of writing.

Despite this backlash, the Steam page painted a picture of a studio with long-term plans for the game. Since it launched in early access, the developer said it planned to have a full launch in "around 6-8 months". It also said that the early access period would be used to "refine and improve" the game over time, as well as add new content such as "new items, weapons, equipment, cars, and houses." None of which will be happening now.

All in all, it's a strange end to a strange tale. The Day Before went from the most wishlisted game on Steam to a game that many doubted actually existed, and then to a game that became infamous for how much it disappointed players. More details