The Day Before has been experiencing some issues lately with its release-time and accusations of the game even being a scam. The open-world MMO zombie survival game is being developed by Fntastic and saw major levels of hype on Steam–at one point being the second-most wishlisted on the platform. However, just days before Fntastic was set to reveal more gameplay for the first time in two years, The Day Before was simply removed from Steam and the release date got a delay.
In a statement on January 25, Fntastic said the Steam takedown was because of a trademark claim against the name ‘The Day Before,’ which the studio had only found out about on January 19. Due to the dispute, the reveal for the gameplay was put on hold and the release date was pushed back from March 1 to November 10.
However, according to an interview with IGN, Fntastic founders Eduard and Aisen Gotovtsev said the delay was actually planned prior to the trademark dispute coming into play.
“We planned to move the game’s release before and plan to announce it with Mytona in a 10-minute gameplay video. And then you all know what happened. So to be on the safe side, to ensure there are no more transfers, we, along with the publisher, chose November 10. That is a safe date, given the trademark dispute.”
The founders acknowledged accusations from gamers that The Day Before doesn’t actually exist and is rather just a scam. They stated that it is “unpleasant to hear such accusations.”
“We didn’t take a penny from people: no crowdfunding, no pre-orders, no donations. The game is fully funded by Mytona, one of the largest mobile publishers in the world, who checked the game’s build at every milestone per our contract.”
The Trademark Dispute Question
If the case was that the delay was planned–which is one of the most common things in the video game industry to see–why chalk it all up to a trademark dispute? It would’ve made more sense for Fntastic and Mytona to be straightforward and transparent about the situation and keep prospective players in the loop.
Fntastic also initially blamed the removal of The Day Before from Steam on a “known bug that has affected multiple titles in the past,” and that it would be corrected as part of Steam’s regular maintenance. That explanation was later removed from their Discord without any further explanation. The founders did not address this statement in the IGN interview, leading to more questions than answers.
Still, for a game that was set to release so soon (March 1), we really don’t know anything about it. We don’t know what the game will really be like and how it works at all.
Fntastic said the gameplay reveal would be shared for The Day Before once they get approval to do so from their legal team.
It’s a strange situation, especially since both Fntastic and Mytona are decently established in the gaming world.
Hey, thanks for reading DZSH! Check out our newsletter too so you can always stay in the loop!
Zainah Yousef
Zainah Yousef is the author of The Fallen Age Saga and specializes in gaming, social media advice, and reviews. She's been writing all her life and she probably won't stop anytime soon.
