Zombie survival game The day before went offline for good on Monday, just 45 days after the game ignominiously launched on Steam. It was an ignominious ending for the game, which went from one of the most desired games on Valve’s storefront to a financial disaster for developer Fntastic.
In the wake of The day before‘s closure, and in response to what is being alleged from “anonymous former employees” and unnamed detractors, Fntastic posted a lengthy and defensive response to “misinformation (that) has appeared on the Internet” via X on Wednesday. In it, the studio lashed out at anonymous sources posing as former employees of Fntastic and at unnamed bloggers who the studio said benefited from a hate campaign against The day before.
“We did not take a cent from users, did not use crowdfunding and did not offer pre-orders,” Fntastic said in its statement. “Even after the game closed, we, together with the publisher, issued refunds to all players, including forcibly issuing refunds to those who did not request them. We are not a ‘fly by night’ company. We have been active since 2015 and have always done business honestly.”
Fntastic said that one of its other games, Gag nightcontributed to co-financing the development of The day before. Gag night It has sold “nearly a million units” since its launch in late 2021, Fntastic said.
In response to stories mentioning ex-Fntastic employees who said that The day before was never intended as a massively multiplayer game, the studio said: “We’re not sure if these employees are real or not, but we had excellent relationships with our team.” Fntastic defended its financial support for employees and its “low turnover rate” as evidence of good relations with its staff.
Fntastic had less kind things to say about members of the media, claiming that “certain bloggers made a huge amount of money by creating fake content (…) to gain opinions and followers, taking advantage of the lack of information about the development of the game. Their actions sparked a gold rush among content creators due to the game’s popularity before its release.
Despite claims that The day before“Fntastic’s marketing was misleading,” Fntastic said: “We implemented everything we see in the trailers, from home improvements and a detailed world to all-terrain vehicles. We only disabled a few minor features, such as parkour, due to bugs, but planned to include them in the full release.”
But “negative biases caused by certain bloggers who monetized hate influenced the perception of the game,” leading to “significant damage” to The day before and Fntastic’s reputation, the studio argued.
Despite the shutdown, the people behind Fntastic suggested that they would continue game development for unannounced projects. “We encourage you to subscribe to our social networks to find out what happens next,” the studio said.
The day before launched in December, almost three years after its initial unveiling. When it was first shown, Fntastic described it The day before as an “open-world multiplayer survival game” set in a “huge, stunningly detailed post-apocalyptic world destroyed by a terrible virus.” After a series of splashy gameplay trailers and much-discussed delays, The day before launched in early access on Steam. The immediate reaction was largely negative, leading Fntastic to announce just days later that development – and the studio itself – was being halted. The day before was quickly pulled from Steam and the game’s servers went offline on January 22.