The Day Before Studio Shuts Down Days After Disastrous Launch

Mere days after the messy early access release of The Days Before, the studio behind the project, Fntastic, has announced it's closing down.

Fntastic announced the news via a post on X (formerly Twitter), stating The Day Before, previously one of Steam's most-wishlisted games, "has failed financially, and we lack the funds to continue." The Day Before did briefly rise to the top of Steam's best-sellers and most-played games list, before dropping off dramatically as negative user reviews for the game poured in.

"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."

The Day Before's launch was widely criticized for game-crashing bugs and server issues. Fntastic has also been accused of misleading players about what kind of game The Day Before actually was, with many commenting on how the game was an extraction shooter as opposed to the open-world survival MMO that had been promised. Those accusations and the game's various technical issues led to it quickly earning a "Mostly Negative" user review score on Steam. Out of more than 18,000 user reviews, only 20% are currently positive.

Fntastic did release one hotfix update for The Day Before on December 8 following the game's launch, fixing various performance issues and addressing critical bugs. It sounds like that might be the last update the game will ever receive, with the future of one of Fntastic's previous games, Propnight, also in question.

"At the moment, the future of The Day Before and Propnight is unknown, but the servers will remain operational," Fntastic's statement reads.

Fntastic in a Steam early access Q&A stated the plan was for The Day Before to remain in early access for "six to eight months," with plans to add additional content and eventually increase the game's price. As of writing, The Day Before is still on sale via Steam for $40, and no announcements regarding the game's future have been posted on its official Steam page. [Update: The Day Before is no longer available for sale on Steam, though it's unclear if that is Fntastic's doing or Valve's.]

On X, users are accusing Fntastic of scamming players and demanding refunds.

"Scam, ya'll taking the money you made and are running from your scam, you false advertised The Day Before for years, and put out a game nothing like what you advertised," Synth Potato writes on X. "We all know you aren't shutting down because you lack funds, but because you're taking the money and running."

Prior to launch, Fntastic came under scrutiny for its use of unpaid "volunteer" employees. The Day Before's launch had been delayed multiple times over the years, first due to the studio shifting the project to Unreal Engine 5, and more recently due to a trademark dispute with a calendar app of the same name.