The Day Before May Be Getting a New Name
The Day Before may be changing its name in order to secure a timely release.
The Day Before, the survival game that's been hit with multiple delays and bouts of scrutiny, may be getting a fresh new name in order to finally get the game out and in players' hands. Trademarks filed by The Day Before's developer Fntastic, indicated as much with the creator now filing for something called "Dayworld." Nothing has been said publicly about the new trademark to allude to the fact that it's a new name for The Day Before, but considering how the name itself has been a huge part of what Fntastic said has been holding up the game, it's pretty likely we may see the game renamed in the near future.
Well-Played spotted the trademark in question after it was made filed and made public all this month. It's been filed by Mytona Fntastic Limited, the new company Fntastic formed with its partner, Mytona, months ago whenever the developer became embroiled in legal issues when it was claimed that there was already a The Day Before trademark filed and that it wasn't Fntastic that owned it.
The Day Before's New Name and Delays
Fntastic's The Day Before was supposed to already be out on Steam right now following a predicted release in March, but the game was delayed in January for a reason we typically don't hear. The game got pulled from Steam entirely because someone else owned the trademark for The Day Before. Fntastic said then that it would "definitely solve everything," but in the meantime, the game would have to be pushed back to November 2023 with a gameplay preview also being delayed at the time so that Fntastic could focus on the issue at hand. Once a gameplay video was released, the "Survive the Apocalypse with Speed" trailer didn't inspire a ton of hope in the game from those who've been waiting for it after the trailer showed a player speeding around in a sports car which seemed antithetical to the gritty survival themes and zombies we'd seen so far.
Needless to say after multiple delays and few previews to show for it in the meantime, people have long been skeptical of The Day Before and Fntastic's ability to pull off a game of this scale. Some of those criticisms have involved people calling The Day Before a fake game or a scam, and Fntastic didn't take too kindly to those suggestions.
"We all live in a time of disinformation and lack of fact-checking. Anyone can say anything for views, and everyone will believe it," Fntastic said previously. "Disinformation needs to be dealt with as it can harm not only us but also other indies and small/medium studios. It also has a mental impact on the members of such teams. After the release of The Day Before, we'll think about how to help novice developers deal with fakes and allocate resources for this."
The Day Before Release Date
Right now, Fntastic says that The Day Before will release on November 10th. That's the date that was set back in January, and that's the date that the most recent tweet from the game's account this month says, though Fntastic has not offered many updates on the matter to reassure players that's still the case. If the new "Dayworld" filing is any indication of what might happen, we may be hearing from the developer sooner rather than later.
Until something changes, there's currently no way to preorder the game. The Steam page for The Day Before, a game which once topped wishlists on the platform, is still down and likely will be until the name situation is rresolved.
