The Day Before studio asks for a "second chance" and a "second chance": 'Our development and marketing will now be based on honesty'

The Day Before, a popular open-world survival game, was a financial failure when it launched late last year. Four days later, developer Fntastic closed its doors. The Day Before was a financial failure, and the studio did not have the funds to continue. Now, Fntastic is back, saying that it will do things differently and ask gamers to fund their next project via Kickstarter.

Due to its reputation, the reanimated Studio (which also created the once popular but now defunct Propnight), might struggle to reach even its modest goal of $15,535 for Escape Factory, "a physics-based multiplayer cooperative escape game." Kickstarter users have pledged $55,492 for a potato-salad, so anything is possible.

The multi-year saga which ended with Fntastic closing began in 2021, with a slick looking announcement trailer for The Day Before. The Day Before was a top wishlist game on Steam, with PC gamers expecting a zombie MMO that looked like The Last of Us.

After a series delays, the audience became skeptical that The Day Before was going to be the game that they imagined. When it finally released in the year 2023, the game turned out as a generic, janky extraction shooter, which did not meet the definition of "MMO" for most people. I think this is what a lot people expected at that time--they were expecting a trainwreck and got one. And as we discovered after playing The Day Before, the game did not look all different from the trailers. It was just bad.

After the launch, the studio apologized if it didn't live up to your expectations. "We did all we could, but unfortunately we underestimated our capabilities." "Creating games is a very challenging endeavor."

The Day Before purchases had been refunded and it seemed that Fntastic was over. Especially after it was reported that the two studio founders, Eduard Gotovtsev and Aisen Gotovtsev used volunteer labor, fining their employees for subpar performance. The brothers were reported to have stopped communicating when The Day Before was released, and only returned briefly enough to shut down the studio in a conference call.

Leaders of "Fntastic 2.0" claim that the new version will be different. It is smaller, but still "consists of the same people." They claim, for example, that they have "discontinued involving external volunteers" and are now "fully committed to a professional approach." However, they contradict themselves later on in the same FAQ by saying that "some team member are helping out as a goodwill gesture."

The Day Before's developers have analyzed what went wrong, and blame "overly ambitious goals with a low budget indie, a team lacking AAA tech experience, as well as embellished marketing." They "deeply regret" this.

A document on Fntastic’s "plan for recover" states: "Our development and marketing will now be based on honesty."

Fntastic has said that if Escape Factory is funded it will also pursue a new game of prop hunting as a successor to Propnight. If the Kickstarter fails the studio will go back to the void.

The company says, "We are asking for a second opportunity, and we think that with your help, we can create the future favorite games of yours."