Fntastic Officially Shut Downs The Day Before Servers 45 Days After First Launch 

It has been rough months and years for Fntastic’s zombie survival game, as the gaming developer has kept true to their promise and officially shut down its The Day Before servers on January 22nd 2024. For context, after the disastrous launch that saw Fntastic shutting down the game four days just after its Steam launch, publisher Mytona stated on Twitter that The Day Before “will retire and the servers will shut down” on January 22nd, 2024, which was yesterday.

pic.twitter.com/GIX4ZAztny

— The Day Before (@playdaybefore) December 22, 2023

Thus, one of Steam’s most wishlisted titles of 2023 is now dead, with Fntastic also inactivating the game’s Twitter account, deleting the website and pulling the game from its only platform, PC. Today, let’s have a deep dive at how Fntastic failed so ineptly that it caused one of the contenders for game of the year to become the worse game of the year.

Also Read: Steam January 2024: 18 Free Games Launch and Ceasing Support on Older Windows Versions

Fntastic’s Controversial The Day Before Zombie Game Recap

The Start

Before focusing on the bad, let’s focus on the good. For starters, Fntastic launched the first two The Day Before gameplay trailers in early 2021 to massive support as they stated that the game is a “real breakthrough for the MMO survival genre” and how they “reinvented everything from the in-game goals to the ways we approach the quality of the game mechanics.” 

Thus, with such high promises, the game became the most wishlisted game on Steam by May 22nd 2022, as fans eagerly awaited the game’s release the following month. However, it was precisely then that everything turned south, starting with delaying the game’s launch date due to a switch of gaming engines from Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal Engine 5. 

Then, all hell broke loose as Fntastic revealed on its website that the company functions through volunteers. If that was not a red flag, the gaming developer further unveiled that its “culture is based on the idea of volunteering”, and they have split full-time volunteers with part-time volunteers as the former gets paid while the latter receives “cool rewards” as compensation.

The Reception and Backlash

Naturally, the community did not take kind of the revealed, and many claim it was employee exploitation and a prelude to a scam. Months later, Fntastic were in even dire waters as copyright claims began flooding in as the game seemed to copy several massive titles, such as Red Dead Redemption 2, Grand Theft Auto 5, Metal Gear Solid 5, The Last of Us and many more. Countless videos depicting the similarities circulated online as Fntastic did not respond to the claims.

On the day of its early access, many players flooded the game expecting a representation of Fntastic’s promises. Unfortunately, the game turned up even worse than expected, as it only provided its player base with a series of bugs and empty environments. Therefore, the unhappy and furious gamers bombarded the reviews with claims of scams and demanded refunds, which caused the gaming developer to shut down the game just four days after its early access.

What transpired next was a series of allegations of false promotion, and the game’s underserving price caused the player number to fall rapidly, with less than ten players concurrently online and in-game. Thus, the only reasonable decision left for them is to shut down the game entirely.

The End

As mentioned earlier, publisher Mytona stated on Twitter that The Day Before would shut down its server on January 22nd 2024, and it’s pleasing to know that Fntastic at least kept one promise until the end. With all things considered, the story of The Day Before will live long in the memories of the gaming community, for worse more than the better.

Will Fntastic Founders and Brothers Eduard and Aisen Gotovtsev Continuing Making Video Games?  

Recovering from a setback is tough, but bouncing back from a situation of this magnitude is almost impossible if you are not the Fntastic founders and brothers Eduard and Aisen Gotovtsev. Based on CD-Action reports, the two brothers were already planning their next project.

Remember their faces and names boys, Eduard Gotovtsev and Aisen Gotovtsev. pic.twitter.com/4SL4KK2o0k

— NiClonais2 (@clonais238195) December 12, 2023

For context, the outlet claimed a former employee told them that the company’s bosses were looking for “veterans” to start working on a new mobile game with them sending out offers to all employees “as if nothing ever happened”. Many other platforms, such as Russia’s Youtube channel iXBT Games, also convey the news that gaming developers are starting anew.

Thus, it leaves us with the decision. Should we forgive the two for the debacle of the entire fiasco? Let us know your thoughts on our Facebook and Instagram social media pages.