The Day Before Creators Blame Game's Failure on "Hate Campaign" and "Negative Bias"

The Day Before developer Fntastic is once again trying to save face after the game's disastrous launch. In case you somehow missed it, The Day Before was one of the most anticipated games of the last few years and was at one point the most wishlisted game on Steam. The trailers for the game promised a sprawling open world with cities and rural areas with an emphasis on surviving an undead apocalypse with other players serving as an additional threat. It was like The Last of Us meets The Division and it looked really cool. However, as fans looked into the game and its developer, it became clear that the studio behind it was a little shady and had never made something at this scale, making fans doubt their capabilities. A bunch of other strange issues popped up such as trademark disputes over the title, last minute delays that pushed the game well over a year and more. On top of that, the trailers looked like they were also mimicking shots from things like Call of Duty and I Am Legend, further making fans concerned about the legitimacy of the game.

Upon its launch in December, fans realized the game was not what it was hyped up to be. It was an empty, lifeless extraction shooter and not an open world survival game. It had some very basic mechanics, but it was pretty soulless and far from what was initially pitched to fans. Within days, the game was pulled from Steam and everyone who wanted a refund got one. A month later, not a single soul is playing the game. Developer Fntastic decided to go on social media to address some claims made about The Day Before, namely that it deceived players. Fntastic refutes this by saying that it refunded everyone who wanted their money back and that every major feature in the trailers was implemented in the game. While it's good that players got their money back, it doesn't change the fact that the game is not remotely close to what was shown in the trailers and there are plenty of videos that showcase this. Fntastic also chalked up the game's failure to "bloggers" and members of the media creating some kind of hate campaign, for whatever reason.

⚡Recently, a lot of misinformation has emerged on the Internet from supposedly anonymous sources. Fntastic provides an official response to these statements.#fntastic #thedaybefore pic.twitter.com/zRKWQ1nfmr

— Fntastic (@FntasticHQ) January 24, 2024

Fntastic announced that it was shutting down after The Day Before was released... but now it's saying that fans should stay tuned for what's next. We have absolutely no idea what that means, but it may suggest The Day Before won't be staying dead. It was noted that game keys are being resold for high prices, there are players who liked the game and want to see it continue, and there were people creating mods to keep the game alive in some capacity. The replies on social media were overwhelmingly negative, though. It's really anyone's guess what happens from here, but it's safe to say you should probably take whatever Fntastic does next with a heavy grain of salt.