In a now deleted Twitter rant from late last night, The Day Before devs Fntastic posted a rant on the platform seeking to pass the blame for the survival game's failures onto others, namely 'bloggers' who profited from its shut down.
The rant, which was posted as an image in both English and Russian late Pacific time on Wednesday, sought to clear the air about "misinformation" that was circulating after The Day Before's incredibly high-profile failure. If you've been living under a rock, The Day Before was billed as an expansive open-world survival MMO that turned out to be anything but that. Delayed multiple times, including being embroiled in a copyright issue regarding the game's name, Fntastic released The Day Before into early access at the beginning of December 2023. There was a ton of hype, but also some healthy skepticism from players after gameplay trailers released earlier in the year failed to wow them.
However, it didn't take long for users to realize that the game they got was not anywhere near what they were promised. Apparently, "shit happens."
Four Days After, Fntastic announced it was ceasing development on The Day Before and shutting down its studio. Publisher Mytona issued refunds to everyone who purchased it on Steam, whether they initiated the process or not. The servers finally shuttered as of yesterday.
This would seemingly bring an end to the drama, surely. But alas, Fntastic wasn't done as it posted its now deleted (screenshotted above) rant online last night aimed at placing the blame anywhere but themselves. Heralding the fact that they "didn't take a penny from users" and eschewed crowdfunding or pre-orders during the development period, Fntastic uses this as a way to shield itself from allegations it "deceived players."
This ignores the fact that sales tactics don't deceive people; rather, the actual marketing and repeated misrepresentations of the game people actually received are what are considered deception.
Additionally, the team states that it didn't deceive its investor, pointing to another game it worked on, Propnight, which they claim "sold almost a million copies," co-financed The Day Before.
Fntastic also goes on to address "anonymous former employees" accounts of development. If you'll recall, Fntastic relied on paid work, and there were controversies over whether it even used unpaid labor to build the game. The confusion was confounded since Fntastic referred to both employees and actual volunteers as "volunteers" collectively.
Fntastic states that they "assisted employees with relocation and healthcare" and even helped assist with the funds to buy "equipment and with their mortgages," which, at least at the surface sounds like an elaborate way of saying they paid employees.
So who is to blame, and who actually made money on The Day Before? Bloggers, of course.
"Certain bloggers made huge money by creating false content with huge titles from the very beginning to gain views and followers, exploiting the lack of information about the game's development," Fntastic claim in their post. As a result, bloggers in their view "triggered a gold rush" among content creators, seemingly to spread hate.
Fntastic says that the game they released was the same as what they showed in the trailers, minus those "disabled" features. Apparently, the damage had already been done by bloggers and creators who spread a hate campaign. They claim a "negative bias" was instilled in creators and bloggers to feed the negative press, pointing to Dr. Disrepect's "unbiased gameplay" stream, making me question whether Fntastic understands the meaning of "unbiased"
Whether this is the last we hear about The Day Before from Fntastic remains to be seen, though I'd wager it might now be as rumors have circulated the devs at the head of Fntastic are already working on their next game.
