'The Day Before' Studio Shuts Down a Week After Early Access — And Players Think it's a Scam

The Gist:

• The Day Before launched in early access on Dec. 4 to incredibly negative reviews.
• Just one week after the launch, developer Fntastic announced its closure, citing the negative reviews for the game.
• Fntastic claims the servers for The Day Before will "remain operational," though many are looking to get a refund for the game.

A video game flopping upon release is not a new concept to gamers. Cyberpunk 2077 released to massively negative reviews, citing bugs, glitches, and an overall messy final product — only for the game to bounce back with the DLC Phantom Liberty.

The Day Before was promised to be a survival MMO set on a post-apocalyptic east coast — but it's since been called a "scam" by players and critics alike when the game went into early access on Dec. 4.

The accusations leveled against developer Fntastic have been large, including ripping assets from other games and misleading players with the trailers leading up to the game's release. So what happened to The Day Before? Players are left outraged and looking for refunds after only a week with the game.

The Day Before has an "overwhelmingly negative" review on Steam, despite being out for such a short period of time. Following the outpouring of negative reviews from players, developer Fntastic announced it would be closing down and discontinuing development on the game, with most of its statement focusing on finances.

"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," the statement, posted to Twitter, begins. "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."

Fntastic claims the failure was a result of the company "miscalculat[ing] our capabilities," saying "Creating games is an incredibly challenging endeavor."

Though the statement claims the servers will remain "operational," it seems there's not much of a game to play if the necessary patches won't be released.

Though it's not uncommon for studios to severely downsize following a less-than-stellar game release, shutting down a week after a brand new title enters early access is unheard of — and many are suspicious of the people behind Fntastic.

"Closing a studio 1 week after a terrible release is sus. Sounds more like thanks for your money, we are closing now don’t contact us cya!" one Twitter user replied to the developers' statement.

"The game has failed financially? And you say that 4 days after release? At least wait a whole month instead of just lying," another wrote.

The replies are filled with rage as players share their disbelief and anger, feeling as though they've been ripped off. Even notable companies like Opera GX are in the replies voicing their absolute appall at the entire debacle.

Following the backlash, it seems that Fntastic and its investor, Mytona, are working to give players refunds for the game, should they choose to request one. On the company's Twitter, it said it's "currently working with Steam to allow refunds for any player who chooses to request one, regardless of game time. Fntastic received $0 and will receive nothing from The Day Before sales."

The validity of Fntastic's claim that it's "received $0 and will receive nothing from The Day Before sales" has yet to be confirmed. According to a Reddit user, if you are initially rejected for your request for a refund, open a ticket with Steam.

"Link [the] Forbes articles saying the game is a scam, and do a nice text explaining how [they] released a game that [has] nothing to do with what they showed us over the last years," the Redditor said. This was how they reportedly received their refund.