9 months after their not-MMO died and tanked their studio, The Day Before devs are "asking for a second chance" with a new crowdfunded game that's "free from embellishments"
Sep. 27, 2024Fntastic 2.0 is “the same people” who made The Day Before, and yes, it sounds like it still has volunteer employees
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
Fntastic, the studio behind the failed extraction shooter that was supposed to be an MMO and ultimately tanked the whole studio, has relaunched as Fntastic 2.0 with a “plan for recovery” that includes a new crowdfunded co-op “escape game”.
From Steam’s most-anticipated MMO to a bland, empty survival shooter that killed a studio, The Day Before is a deeply weird game. You can hit that link to read the whole bizarre story, but it includesa nine-month delay due to a trademark issue,a catastrophic launch met with damning reviews and complaints from players that it wasn’t an MMO as originally marketed, seemingly scrubbed genre tags, and thenFntastic’s abrupt closure four days after launch. The Day Before was pulled from Steam the same day.
The ensuing fallout lasted for weeks and included allegations from former staff of awful working conditions and mismanagement to the extent that some devs didn’t know they were supposed to be making an MMOandinflammatory comments from the studio blaming “the hate campaign” for the whole fiasco.
Over on Fntastic’s official website, there’s adownloadable PDFthat details the studio’s plan to win back the trust of its players. The three core “principles” of that plan are:
The thing is, in anFAQ, Fntastic clearly states: “Some team members are helping out on a goodwill basis”. I mean, at least they’re being transparent about it this time around, but still, considering volunteers were one of the most controversial aspects of The Day Before while still in development, it’s kind of shocking they’re still using them.
There’s also a list of “strategic objectives” detailed in the plan as well as commitments to “brand rebuilding”, and a vision focused “on delivering high-quality gaming experiences, combining innovation, creativity, integrity, and transparency. Our vision guides us toward becoming one of the most loved gaming companies in the world.”
Fntastic’s new bright blue logo “signifies the company’s renewed commitment to transparency and honesty. The clean, modern aesthetic symbolizes a fresh beginning, highlighting a focus on clear communication and openness with the community.”
Sign up to the GamesRadar+ Newsletter
Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more
The studio’s first game out of the gate is a crowdfunded, phyiscs-based co-op game called Escape Factory, and it looks a lot lower budget than The Day Before, reflecting Fntastic’s admission that The Day Before suffered from “overly ambitious goals on a low indie budget and a team without AAA tech experience”. Escape Factory is currently in open beta with a freeSteam demo.
“Today, we need your support once again to bring Fntastic back—by funding our new game Escape Factory,” Fntastic says. “We sincerely apologize for everything that happened and are committed to making things right.”
Here are all of theupcoming indie gameswe can’t wait to play.
After scoring a degree in English from ASU, I worked as a copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. Now, as GamesRadar’s west coast Staff Writer, I’m responsible for managing the site’s western regional executive branch, AKA my apartment, and writing about whatever horror game I’m too afraid to finish.
A mysterious Palworld update appears to make a change designed to get around the survival game’s legal battle with Nintendo
Five years later, PUBG creator PlayerUnknown finally reveals his massive open-world survival game projects, aiming for “realistic worlds thousands of kilometers wide” across three games
“It seems we’ve missed the mark”: As their Steam review score drops to 14%, Dauntless devs wade into feedback after a disastrous update that gutted progress
