Less than a week after the controversial The Day Before title was released, the developers have already closed down their studio and declared the game a financial failure.
In a statement posted to the company’s Twitter account today, the devs at Fntastic announced the closure of their studio just four days after its “zombie survival MMO” game released on Steam on Dec. 7. The reasons are a tad ambiguous, though, with the team saying the game “failed financially, and we lack the funds to continue” releasing new patches and supporting the game.
The studio said “all income received is being used to pay off debts to our partners.” The game itself was widely panned by both the wider gaming audience and critics at launch. On Steam, where it is still listed as an “early access” game for $40, it has garnered a collective Mostly Negative review score. The low scores are a result of broken promises and a broken state at launch, and many of the top reviews on Steam are from players who have already refunded the title.
The decision to close the studio and effectively cut off future support for the game has also been panned by the gaming audience, with the decision effectively affirming the belief in the eyes of many that the game was and is a scam. This feeling is escalated by the developers choosing to keep any income the game has made and not offer any refunds to players who are no longer eligible for a return through Steam.
The end result of The Day Before shouldn’t come as a surprise after the rocky road to launch. The development of this game included multiple delays, concerns about what was promised, and a trademark dispute that resulted in the game being taken off Steam, among other controversies like the alleged use of volunteer workers and AI-generated art.
