The controversy about The Day Before continues. Fntastic, the studio behind the MMO survival game has yet again delayed the game to December 7, when it will be released on Steam as Early Access. The announcement is coming a week before the supposed launch of the game.
After The Day Before’s gameplay trailer was revealed in January 2021, Fntastic announced that it would be released in June 2022. Eventually, it was delayed to March 1, 2023, because of a planned transition from Unreal Engine 4 to UE5.
Sometime in January this year, the game was hit with a copyright claim, according to the studio, which led to The Day Before being delisted from Steam. Fntastic later released a statement on January 25 saying “Steam blocked our page at the request of a private individual, because of the name The Day Before”.
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Fntastic further mentioned that the individual registered the game trademark in the US soon after the January announcement and reached out to them on January 19 with a complaint asking the studio to contact him.
As a result of the copyright claim, Fntastic said they had to cancel their planned post of a lengthy gameplay video in January. Also, the studio postponed the launch of The Day Before from March to November 10, 2023.
At this point, many fans had already started suspecting that the entire game and the bogus copyright claim might have been a huge scam. However, a few had kept their fingers crossed and hoped that the game would finally become a reality.
However, the November 1 announcement by the studio that the game would be postponed again may well be the last blow that snuffs any ray of hope left in most believers. Trust is already severed and Fntastic may have to do more than a lengthy statement to rebuild that trust.
Fntastic claims to have won the rights to The Day Before
In the November 1 statement, Fntastic said they have won the rights to The Day Before through a decision confirmed by the Intellectual Property Tribunal. The announcement was also accompanied by an official gameplay trailer with a narration that sounded like an AI voice.
“We dedicate this victory to all our future players, and it’s all for them,” read part of Fntastic’s statement which was published on X. “For five years, we have been doing our best to give people this dream game. We also want to thank our volunteers for their constant support and faith in us.”
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Fntastic further said that The Day Before Steam page has been restored by Valve and will be available soon. Also, the studio said the “full version release will happen when we are certain this is the best version of the game possible” without giving any specific date or timeline.
In other words, the game may be in Early Access forever. The company claimed that since it was their “first huge game, and there may be unforeseen circumstances”, feedback from Early Access will help them to finetune the game until it is ready for full release. They confirmed that only the full version will come to next-gen consoles.
What many found skeptical was the price point of the Early Access which was pegged at $39 while the full game would be priced at $49. Also, it mentioned that those who purchased the Early Access version will not have to purchase the full game again.
On X, Austin (@H720Gaming) in response to the announcement said, “I’m okay with all this except the EA price. It seems just a bit steep. Not horrible, but I think $30 price point would be better. Especially considering all the skepticism”.
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Johan (@Johan50123) shared a similar sentiment about the Early Access price, “Another delay, well of course. Nobody is shocked. But But €/$39 for Early Access is wayyy too much…. It should be about €/$20 or €/$30. And you don’t pay the devs right? (the volunteers I mean).”
The Day Before gameplay trailer sparks more controversies
In addition to the uninspiring AI narrative that I mentioned earlier, people have also accused The Day Before of copying other games including Dead Red Redemption 2, Grand Theft Auto 5, and Cyberpunk 2077. A YouTuber called Randomly uploaded a video that showed how The Day Before copied the words of other games—sometimes verbatim.
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This is not the first time that The Day Before is being accused of copying. Certain parts of the gameplay trailer released on February 2, 2023, shared a resemblance to other popular games. Although visual was not the subject of discussion at this time, it also seemed highly watered down compared to the first time that the game was first revealed.
Have a look at the official The Day Before gameplay trailer below and share your thoughts on the graphics and gameplay as well as whether it looks familiar.
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