The Day Before studio Fntastic announces ‘closure’ just days after the controversial game’s launch

Fntastic, the studio behind controversial game The Day Before, has announced its closure just four days after the title’s early access release on Steam.

“Today, we announce the closure of Fntastic studio,” it said in a message posted on its website and social media channels. “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.

“It’s important to note that we didn’t take any money from the public during the development of The Day Before; there were no pre-orders or crowdfunding campaigns. We worked tirelessly for five years, pouring our blood, sweat, and tears into the game.”

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

— Fntastic (@FntasticHQ) December 11, 2023

At the time of publishing, The Day Before remains available to purchase on Steam for $39.99 / £33.50.

“At the moment, the future of The Day Before and Propnight is unknown, but the servers will remain operational,” Fntastic’s statement continued, referring to its new game and the studio’s previous title, which was released in 2021.

“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.”

Billed as a post-apocalyptic “open-world MMO” survival game set in the US following a deadly pandemic, The Day Before has been mired in controversy for some time.

A perceived lack of transparency from Fntastic, which was seemingly hesitant to show the game off at length, along with the revelation that the title was being largely developed by volunteers, and accusations that promotional materials included “ripped assets” from several other games, led to scepticism that the product would live up to the hype generated by its initial reveal in 2021.

Once the most wishlisted game on Steam, it suffered multiple delays, including a lengthy hold-up blamed on a trademark dispute, before finally releasing on December 7 to mostly negative user reviews.

The game has seemingly been widely refunded on Steam, where many players have labelled it a scam. Numerous purchasers have criticised Fntastic for what they claim to be false advertising, claiming that the game is actually a small-scale extraction shooter lacking promised open-world survival elements.