The Day Before developers Fntastic faced harsh criticism from both the fans and critics ever since the release of the game earlier this month. Before release, the title was one of the most wish-listed games on Steam. Several gamers and streamers demanded a refund for the game within two hours of the game’s early access release on Steam which was also granted by the developers.
All of this led to the unfortunate closure of the Singapore-based studio, and now a former developer has shed more light on the development of the game under the condition of anonymity. Safe to say the nightmares are far from over for the developers despite closing down the studio.
Former Developer Sheds More Light on The Day Before
In recent memory, hardly has a game failed as badly as The Day Before‘s absolute meltdown post-release. The game got a lot of basics wrong including the absence of a melee attack and the inability to vault over obstacles as well as not giving gamers an option to change the game’s resolution. It took all of two hours of early-access release for the refund requests to start pouring in, on Steam.
The nightmare continues for Fntastic as the studio that recently closed down has been accused of disregarding the ideas of the team by a former developer. Under the condition of anonymity, the former developer revealed in an interview with DualShockers how the game was never made to be an MMO, despite it being marketed that way.
The former developer made the revelation in a recent interview and mentioned that the game was always meant to be a “third-person shooter with some co-op mechanics“. The source also added that “not one RPG mechanic was implemented” in the title apart from skills which was floated around as an idea during prototype but was not said to have materialized.
The game was said to be under development for over two years, during which it was made quite clear that the game would not be an MMO and that there would be “no clans, no raids, closed hubs“. The former Dev also mentioned there being a severe lack of communication between the Devs and the founders Eduard Gotovtsev and Aisen Gotovtsev who took it upon themselves to make every gameplay and design decision in the game.
The anonymous source also revealed that Developers who disagreed with the founders felt at risk of losing their jobs. The source also mentioned that there were a lot of good ideas drafted by the Devs who were mostly disregarded just because the founders didn’t approve of them.
Unfortunately, those who complained a lot were said to have been kicked off the team. On the other hand, the source also confirmed that a lot of “stupid ideas” by the founders had led to a lot of wasted time as well.
Close to 46% of the Copies Have Been Refunded So Far
The anonymous former Fntastic Dev also confirmed a Reddit post from three days about the refunds. A leaked screenshot posted on Reddit showed that over 201,000 copies of the game were sold and of those around 92,000 copies were refunded. That number may have risen by a lot by now, with a lot of them having claimed refunds by now.
The publishers of the game, Mytona posted an apology on X a couple of days back before refunds opened on Steam. Reasoning the closure of the studio, the founders were said to have blamed the poor purchasing statistics of the game as the title was deemed financially unsuccessful.
The founders also posted on X about the refunds on the same day, stating that they are working with the publishers about refunds for those who wish to request one. The studio also claimed having “received $0 and will receive nothing from The Day Before sales“.
It’s a given that neither the studio nor the game would be fondly remembered when looking back at 2023, as the year has given the gaming community several amazing titles. Amidst the high number of layoffs that marred the year so far, the failure of a highly anticipated title has only added to the disappointment.
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