The dramatic saga One of the most anticipated Steam games of 2023 just took its strangest turn yet. The day before Manufacturer Fntastic announced it would be ceasing operations less than a week after allegations that it defrauded players with a massive bait-and-switch when it came to the true nature of its affair The last of us-looking survival game.
“Today we announce the closure of the Fntastic studio” began an explanation the studio tweeted on December 11th. “Unfortunately The day before has failed financially and we lack the resources to continue. All revenue received will be used to pay off debts to our partners.”
Fntastic wrote that they had worked “tirelessly for five years” on the shooter without ever taking money from players through early access, pre-orders or crowdfunding. While the future of The day before and the studio’s other online games are “unknown”, the servers apparently remain operational for the time being.
“We apologize if we did not meet your expectations,” the statement continued. “We did everything we could, but unfortunately we misjudged our abilities. Developing games is an incredibly challenging endeavor.”
While Fntastic is cutting its losses, it also appears to be denying responsibility for them current chaos environment The day before. One of the most frequently wishlisted games on Steam earlier this year, gamers flocked to the relatively unknown release, reaching over 400,000 viewers on Twitch and 30,000 concurrent players on PC on its first day live.
What they quickly discovered, however, was that the Unreal Engine game that shone in trailers was not the zombie survival MMO originally marketed, but rather a buggy and relatively empty extraction shooter. The $40 release was criticized in thousands of Steam reviews, with players calling it a “cheat” and complaining about server issues and broken levels. Many submitted refund requests.
The spontaneous start that happened The day before The “mostly negative” rating was followed by months of debate about whether the game was even real. After allegations from Exploitation of voluntary work
Fntastic last week dismissed speculation questioning its integrity and motives, criticizing those who “didn’t believe in us.” “To our future player who will dive into this game on December 7th: We made this for you to enjoy the game and make it a celebration.” wrote the studio in a statement at the time. “Together we will continue to improve the game and add content.”
Just four days later, that no longer appears to be the case.
Update 12/11/2023 5:53 p.m. ET: The Day Before has been removed from Steam.
