The Day Before studio shuts down 4 days after disastrous launch | Digital Trends

Fntastic, the developer behind The Day Before, is shutting down just four days after the game's launch due to financial failure.

Fntastic, the developer behind the polarizing and heavily criticized post-apocalyptic shooter The Day Before, has announced that it is ceasing operations just four days after the game's release.

In a message posted on Fntastic's official X account and website, the studio revealed, "Today, we announce the closure of Fntastic Studio. Unfortunately, The Day Before has failed financially, and we lack the funds to continue. All income received is being used to pay off debts to our partners. We invested all our efforts, resources, and man-hours into the development of The Day Before, which was our first huge game. We really wanted to release new patches to reveal the full potential of the game, but unfortunately, we don't have the funding to continue to work."

The Day Before initially gained attention earlier this year with flashy trailers and its status as the most wish-listed game on Steam. However, controversy soon followed, with reports of Fntastic using unpaid volunteers to develop the game, releasing underwhelming new gameplay footage, and facing challenges in obtaining the rights to the name The Day Before. After several delays, the game was finally released on December 7, reaching a peak of 38,104 concurrent players, according to SteamDB. The game has received predominantly negative feedback, indicating that Fntastic overpromised and underdelivered.

The Day Before currently holds a "mostly negative" user score average on Steam with over 18,500 reviews. Some have accused the game of potentially scamming interested players. In response, Fntastic clarified that the studio "didn't take any money from the public during the development of The Day Before; there were no pre-orders or crowdfunding campaigns."

As for the future, The Day Before remains available for purchase on Steam, and Fntastic has stated that "servers will remain in operation" for it and the studio's other game, Propnight, for the time being. The studio has deleted its account on Medium and changed the status of all videos on its YouTube channel to private.

In other news, Counter-Strike 2 is now available on Steam for free after a surprise launch, and the perfect date night game has just been released in time for Valentine's Day. Embracer Group has already shut down a former Square Enix studio, and New World's trading system has been temporarily shut down after a bug allowed players to duplicate gold. Additionally, Destiny 2 is currently down for emergency maintenance following a surprise crossplay launch.

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