The day Before was probably the biggest disappointment for gamers in 2023 and after its absolute disastrous release, the studio is blaming everything on others...
It was one of the biggest gaming disappointments of last year. With its apparent mix of The Last of Us and The Division, The Day Before, announced 2021, set off a huge hype wave. Despite the repeated delays of its release, pre-orders piled up, and in December 2023, it finally happened: The Day Before was released. And it was terrible.
To put it briefly: Bugs everywhere, crashes, and empty promises, the game was not close to what was being announced. Reviews tore the game apart, and just a few days later, the studio behind it announced its closure, marking the end of the short-lived existence of The Day Before.
Now, FNTASTIC is speaking up again, leaving us speechless once more.
FNTASTIC Blames Everything On A "Hate Campaign"
In a now-deleted tweet, the dev studio addresses various allegations, including fraud against players and investors, exploitation of employees, and the failure to deliver on promises.
Fortunately, we live in the digital age of information, and despite the deletion of the statement, screenshots are still circulating on the internet, including FNTASTIC's own website.
Sigh. There is a lot to unfold here.
First and foremost, they state that they refunded all players who purchased the game, even those who didn't ask for it. They then sarcastically pose the rhetorical question, "How many companies return money like that?" The answer to that is: Not many. But most companies also don't mess up as badly. If you steal money from a grandma and then return it AFTER being caught and confronted by a passerby, you shouldn't say, 'I returned the money, what thief does that?' In the case of The Day Before, addressing issues and offering refunds is a step, but it doesn't negate the impact of the initial problems and unfulfilled promises.
Okay, let's continue: In recent months, (former) employees, or rather volunteers, have repeatedly spoken out about the working conditions. For example, the former Lead of Volunteers, "Wholf," wrote a comprehensive Reddit post about the controversial company strategy of employing volunteers as part of the workforce.
A little story from my side - WHOLF
by u/RobWolfB in TheDayBefore
Firstly, FNTASTIC doubts the authenticity of these employees. Fair. We also cannot confirm with 100% certainty that they are indeed former volunteers speaking out. However, it is unusual for several people to independently share similar stories. FNTASTIC also have already admitted to the strategy of using volunteers. In this statement, they do not address it further.
Instead, they highlight how well they treated their paid employees, providing vacation pay and health benefits. You can do the math yourself.
In the rest of the statement, they address how their game was received in the gaming world. We all know it wasn't received well. But what was the reason for that? Fortunately, FNTASTIC finally enlightens us.
The negative bias instilled by certain bloggers making money on hate affected perceptions of the game. Look at unbiased gameplay like Dr. Disrespect's stream at release. Despite the initial bugs and
server issues, he liked the game, which we fixed later, and the game received improved reviews over the weekend. Unfortunately, the hate campaign had already inflicted significant damage.
Of course. Any negative criticism is biased. And if Dr. Disrespect likes something, then it can't be bad, right?
The bloggers who criticized the game highlighted, in addition to technical flaws, the deviation from the originally promised gameplay. People expected an MMO or at least an open-world game, not a cityscape cobbled together from assets. But this criticism biased, according to FNTASTIC. The devs now defend the content that was present at the game's release. They claim that most of what they announced was actually in the game.
Unfortunately, there is well-documented evidence of how hastily the studio tried to erase the traces of its misleading marketing after the launch.
Ahahaha.
— Nick Calandra (@nickjcal) December 7, 2023
Not FNTASTIC completely scrubbing their channel to hide any evidence of the fake 'The Day Before' game they marketed.
Left is today.
Right is from earlier this year.
Have zero problem describing this as a full-blown scam now. pic.twitter.com/kdX6tyBxQU
What are you asking? Are We There Yet? Alright, I'm almost done. Just one last thing that genuinely made me smirk.
To conclude this wonderful piece of data, the developers boast that even after their closure, bloggers reached out to them to get access to the game. Surely, those weren't the "biased bloggers" trying to jump on the gold rush bandwagon, right?
The game was also reportedly sold on the 'black market' for up to $200. If selling Steam keys on eBay is considered the 'black market,' then sure, there were people who wanted to buy a copy of the game due to disaster tourism. In the end, the servers still had to be shut down. Cheers.