The Day Before is dead and gone, but those behind the studio responsible aren’t quite done complaining yet. Apparently, according to a new statement from developer Fntastic, it’s not the developers’ fault that the disastrous game has bit the dust. The blame lies with the “bloggers” and “content creators” who’ve “triggered a gold rush” by profiting off a hate campaign against the failed game. And Dr. Disrespect liked it, so why is anyone complaining at all?
Read More: As The Servers Shut Down, The Day Before Is No More
The Day Before was revealed in 2021 with a handful of gameplay trailers that drummed up hype for what was initially billed as an open-world survival MMO. It was serving a combination platter of The Division, GTA V, and The Last of Us, with Fntastic saying in an IGN Fan Fest video in February 2021 that the zombie shooter would be “a real breakthrough for the [massive multiplayer online] survival genre.” A few release dates were announced, but because of a switch from Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal Engine 5 and, later, an apparent trademark issue, The Day Before suffered some delays.
None of this stopped the game from becoming one of Steam’s most wishlisted titles. That hype quickly fizzled once the game came out, though, as folks dragged it for not just bugs but also the undelivered promises. The open-world survival MMO was actually an extraction shooter not unlike Escape From Tarkov, and it’s been all downhill since.
Days after The Day Before’s December 7, 2023 release, and the myriad critical reviews that said the game sucked, developer Fntastic shuttered its doors, claimed “shit happens” while deleting everything it could, and announced that the game’s servers would shut down on January 22, 2024. But it’s not staying quiet, taking to X/Twitter on January 24 to debunk some “misinformation” from anonymous sources and drag “bloggers” and “content creators” for the game’s abject failure.
Fntastic, The Day Before, and the ‘gold rush’ of hate
In the statement, Fntastic said that the studio “always conducted our business honestly,” noting that it’s had a great relationship with publisher Mytona since The Day Before’s 2021 reveal. The studio continued, saying that claims that Fntastic “deceived players [and] investors” were untrue and that the developers “didn’t take a penny” from anyone. According to Fntastic, the real profiteers were bloggers and content creators who “made huge money by creating false content with huge titles from the very beginning to gain views and followers.”
The team detailed exactly why it believes The Day Before failed, outlining “the experiment where you’re asked to count pink objects in a room and then recall the blue ones.” What Fntastic seems to be talking about here is a form of confirmation bias, as the studio explained that streamers like Herschel “DrDisrespect” Beahm IV presented an “unbiased” look at The Day Before, but by then the hate was too palpable and overwhelming for anyone to remember his comments, even after patches addressed it problems. The developers said that despite the disdain the game faced, it was reselling on the black market for $200, which surely indicated its popularity. As such, Fntastic has insisted folks “subscribe to our social networks” to see what’s next for the team.
Kotaku reached out to Mytona for comment.
In the end, The Day Before appears done, with the servers officially closing down earlier this week. However, based on this new statement, it sounds as though those responsible aren’t done making games, especially since the studio’s former CEOs already appear to be working on a new one.
