The Day Before developer closes less than a week after catastrophic game launch

Gollum and Skull Island: Rise of Kong might have a competitor for “2023’s most disastrous video game launch” in Fntastic’s The Day Before. Currently experiencing an “Overwhelmingly Negative” review average on Steam, the game has seen its player count drop by nearly 90% in less than a week following its December 8th launch. In a shocking announcement, the developer has now stated that it will be closing down only days after the game’s release, leaving future of its newest title in jeopardy.

Official statement. #fntastic #thedaybefore #propnight pic.twitter.com/AKcRHeIaIW

— Fntastic (@FntasticHQ) December 11, 2023

“Today, we announce the closure of Fntastic studio,” the studio announced on Twitter/X. “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 the work.”

“We apologize if we didn’t meet your expectations. We did everything within our power, but unfortunately, we miscalculated our capabilities. Creating games is an incredibly challenging endeavor.”

The development of The Day Before has been…turbulent, to say the least. The game was reportedly mired in trademark disputes before it came out, causing the game’s release date to be delayed. The developers described the game as an “MMO Survival” game pre-release, only for the actual game to be more accurately described as a simple extraction shooter when it actually came out. Fntastic has also faced criticism for using unpaid labour during the game’s development, and had to assure players that it was backed by Mytona and that it “didn’t take any money from the public during the development of The Day Before; there were no pre-orders or crowdfunding campaigns.” This is on top of myriad criticisms of the game’s actual quality, with many players citing bugs, poor AI and terrible performance, among other issues.

In its statement, Fntastic has confirmed that the servers will remain operational for The Day Before and its previous title, Propnight. Whatever the case, the future for The Day Before doesn’t look particularly bright.