The Day Before became the most-wishlisted game on Steam when it was announced in 2021, but was soon drowned by controversy. Amid delays, a trademark issue, allegations of plagiarism, and unpaid labor, the game lost its credibility and some even think it might be a scam.
The red flags began from the start. It would be enough to have one controversy involving the development of a game, but The Day Before has had so many that some people still believe the game is a scam.
Several delays
The Day Before was supposed to launch on June 21, 2022, but developer Fntastic kept delaying the game’s release until a new date was set to Dec. 7. The constant delays left all of those who wishlisted The Day Before on Steam hopeless and the rumors about Fntastic’s survival MMO being a scam began to surface.
One month before the initial release date, Fntastic announced they were switching to Unreal Engine 5 to improve The Day Before. Because of the switch, the game was delayed to March 1, 2023. Fans would have to wait seven months more to experience the apocalyptic U.S. promised in the MMO.
In January, however, Fntastic had The Day Before removed from Steam due to a trademark issue that delayed the game again to Nov. 10, 2023. The company promised it would be the last release date, but as we know now, it couldn’t keep its promise.
On Nov. 1, however, The Day Before was back on Steam and Fntastic released the final trailer. It wasn’t what we were expecting, though. The game will release as early access on Dec. 7, 2023, it was announced. Another delay.
The Day Before delay timeline
- Jan. 29, 2021: The Day Before is announced with a trailer.
- Oct. 13, 2021: Release date set to June 21, 2022.
- May 5, 2022: The game is delayed to March 1 because of the change to Unreal Engine 5.
- Jan. 25, 2023: The Day Before is delayed to Nov. 10 due to the trademark issue.
- Feb 2, 2023: Fntastic releases a 10-minute gameplay video, but receives backlash and deletes it.
- Nov. 1, 2023: The Day Before‘s Steam page is back, and the final trailer is released. Release date delayed again to Dec. 7 early access.
Trademark issue
On Jan. 25, 2023, Fntastic announced Steam blocked The Day Before‘s page because of the game’s name “at the request of a private individual.” We can see that the application was only filed on May, 21, 2021. It’s weird to think that Fntastic and Mytona would leave to file for The Day Before’s trademark registration four months after the game was announced, especially considering the size and ambition of the project.
It was only on Nov. 1, 2023, that The Day Before was relisted on Steam and Fntastic announced it “won back” the name by the decision of an Intellectual Property Tribunal.
Unpaid employees
After so many reports of game developers being exploited, going through heavy crunch periods, and even being mistreated, we’d like to say it couldn’t get worse, but Fntastic took it to another level by simply not paying their employees by calling them volunteers.
The company has two types of volunteers: Employee and External. The problem is with the External Volunteer position, which according to Fntastic’s website states “is an opportunity for those who are willing to offer their skills and talents to improve the Fntastic community.”
A representative for Fntastic said to Well Played the external volunteering “doesn’t relate to code writing, or development itself” and those in that position would be responsible for “other important things such as moderation, localization, or simply rooting for us and cheering us up.”
Any work into a triple-A game backed by a publisher should have monetary compensation—moderation and localization included—instead the payment would be done through participation certificates and game codes.
Changing the name “employee” to “volunteer” doesn’t mean it’s not a job. Offering an unpaid position to do moderation and localization work is predatory to people who are just starting out and might see this as an opportunity to get experience.
Apparently copying other games’ marketing
As The Day Before marketing material began to roll out, the gaming community noticed several similarities between Red Dead Redemption 2, Cyberpunk 2077, The Last of Us, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, and The Division.
The Last of Us
It began with The Day Before‘s title font. It is the same as The Las of Us, with the fading and all. It’s important to point out that it’s understandable that Fntastic’s team would take inspiration from one of the greatest zombie games of all time, but using the same font goes beyond inspiration. The Day Before also re-created some scenes from The Last of Us Part I launch trailer.
Red Dead Redemption 2 and Cyberpunk 2077
The gameplay trailer used scripts from Red Dead Redemption 2 and Cyberpunk 2077. You can hear the lines “deep and engaging at all times” and “each weapon has unique characteristics with realistic reload and recoil” in Red Dead Redemption 2‘s gameplay trailer, the same lines with a few different connectors in The Day Before‘s gameplay trailer. While the “immerse yourself in The Day Before” is the same ending line as the Cyberpunk 2077’s gameplay trailer.
The Division
Then, one of the posters for The Day Before took more inspiration from another famous post-apocalyptic game—Tom Clancy’s The Division. The posters above have similar compositions and almost the same subject on a deserted street with only one other person ahead. You could make a case and say the backgrounds are different, and the colors are much warmer on The Day Before’s poster, but due to other examples that seem like plagiarism, it’s hard not to point out it’s more than a coincidence.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
The last and most jaw-dropping case involves some scenes from the Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Zombies Reveal Trailer. A Multimedia Specialist from Raven Software pointed out in an X thread that The Day Before had copied at least four scenes from the Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War trailer in its 10-minute gameplay trailer that isn’t up on YouTube anymore.
