Again in January 2021, FNTASTIC launched an announcement trailer for a venture so bold it generated an excessive amount of hype. It was for ‘The Day Earlier than’ a survival zombie shooter recreation that’s additionally an MMO. The video confirmed open-world gameplay, vehicles, and lots of different desired options. It appears TOO polished for an announcement trailer, however that’s regular for advertising and marketing to be enticing.
As a consequence of a trademark situation, The Day Earlier than doubtless received’t be the sport’s future title. Nevertheless, it is going to be used on this article to discuss with the sport, as there aren’t any substitutes.
The zombie survival style has been hungering for a recreation of this caliber, so it was pure that the sport garnered consideration. The Day Earlier than rocketed to being the highest wishlisted recreation on Steam and was second solely to Hogwarts Legacy.
After two years of ready, individuals found suspicious issues in regards to the recreation and its builders.
Pink Flags That We Actually Ought to’ve Seen
Extremely Sus Builders
FNTASTIC is the primary studio that’s engaged on The Day Earlier than. They’ve made at the very least 4 different video games earlier than this, which continues to be nothing new. Their works stand out as a result of they deal with them as short-term targets.
The Wild Eight was a survival recreation set in Alaska. Whereas it was nonetheless in early entry, FNTASTIC bought its rights to the writer, HypeTrain Digital. Certainly one of their video games, Useless Dozen, was a good suggestion however poorly executed. It solely had 81 gamers at launch, but when FNTASTIC had taken the time to shine it and supply ongoing help, it might’ve been a success. Sadly, after a couple of months, they deserted it.
Radiant One is a dreamy visible novel made for cellular gadgets, but it was launched on Steam. It’s extra profitable than the opposite two, however not by a lot. Their most profitable recreation is Propnight, an asymmetrical PvP recreation of high-stakes hide-and-seek. Nonetheless, that didn’t reserve it from the chopping ground, as FNTASTIC now not gives recreation help and bug fixes.
What does that imply for The Day Earlier than? If it ever will get launched, it’s more likely to get the identical remedy from its builders weeks or months afterward. You realize that MMOs thrive on common updates and upkeep. Would you belief a studio/firm/staff with a historical past of abandoning video games to maintain up a large MMO?
Bait and Swap Advertising and marketing
On March 31, 2021, writer Mytona posted an announcement for a particular occasion regarding The Day Earlier than. Followers had been understandably hyped and eagerly awaited the appointed day. Nevertheless, simply the day earlier than, FNTASTIC posted a postponement of the announcement, saying the sport would come to IGN’s YT channel on April 6.
Okay, not too dangerous. Followers have been ready, to allow them to wait one other week. Come April 6, individuals tuned in to the livestream, glad to see the sport’s brand on the display screen. They settled down to attend. And wait. Why is the timer counting up? Shouldn’t or not it’s counting down? They checked the official Twitter accounts. Okay, there are some technical difficulties. They’ll get it mounted quickly. Two hours handed. Three.
FNTASTIC stated to take pleasure in some lakeside radio and posted a hyperlink. 5 hours handed, and nothing. There was nothing in regards to the recreation for 9 entire hours. That’s when the stream received lower off, and the Twitter accounts introduced one other postponement with no outlined date.
This raised so many questions. Why announce and undergo a livestream when there was no content material to indicate? Was there ever a gameplay trailer to indicate? The stream ran for 9 hours, and all followers received was, ‘Sorry, we’re suspending this launch,’ with no clarification.
Nonetheless, FNTASTIC launched a gameplay trailer on April 9. It was 13 minutes of ‘gamers’ driving, capturing up some zombies, looting, and encountering different gamers. Some bits felt scripted, however that’s to be anticipated within the business. Whereas veterans know that it could by no means evaluate to the completed product, it was par the norm. Advertising and marketing is made to promote, and that is no totally different.
From there, it will get progressively worse.
The developer and the writer arrange one other livestream a couple of months later, in October. It promised The Day Earlier than data and a particular one thing after the stream. Followers had been hyped, questioning if it was an alpha construct to check on or at the very least some replace on the event standing.
They received a launch date (June 21, 2022) and a few movies of the sport. Nevertheless, the particular one thing was an announcement for Propnight’s launch. In fact, with The Day Earlier than gathering the individuals’s consideration, Propnight received loads of publicity piggybacking from it. It was an okay recreation, so this second was dismissed.
Nonetheless, Propnight’s reputation lasted solely a short while, and FNTASTIC dropped help quickly after. Regardless of being an okay recreation, many gamers felt cheated by the way it was introduced. They received baited by The Day Earlier than into getting this recreation. They consoled themselves with a couple of months’ wait since they’re getting the actual factor in June.
Later, they did this once more with their video ‘Life at Fntastic.’ Upon nearer inspection, it’s one lengthy industrial for his or her video chat app, Continent. It was preceded by numerous posts on social media promising extra data on The Day Earlier than, which once more drew many eyes towards the ‘vlog.’
“Volunteerism”
For no matter cause, FNTASTIC employs volunteers in its roster. Fortuitously, they’re not engaged on something necessary like recreation coding and programming however in additional exterior departments. Examples of that may be translation, localization, and neighborhood moderation. Nonetheless, it’s extremely suspicious when extra outstanding recreation builders give these jobs paid positions.
Their clarification of why they do that additionally doesn’t make sense. You could be prepared to volunteer within the first place, however a employed worker might be simply as prepared to do the job. It simply reeks of one thing shady taking place behind the scenes.
Lacking Emblems and Copying Different Recreation Trailers
Presently, the sport and builders are dealing with a trademark disaster. A South Korean firm had crushed them in claiming the title ‘The Day Earlier than.’ This resulted within the recreation dropping its itemizing on Steam and its movies being withdrawn from Youtube. What’s humorous is that they introduced the sport in January 2021, however the Korean firm filed their declare in Could of the identical yr.
Whether or not it was resulting from real oversight or somebody’s mistake, failing this primary step ought to elevate some eyebrows. The plain answer is to alter the sport’s title, however they’re attempting to carry on for some cause. It might be pragmatism with lots of their supplies marked with it. It’s a dropping battle, although.
To indicate that the sport exists and is in growth, they launched two movies. Finally, these had been revealed to be virtually 1:1 copies of an previous trailer of a Name of Responsibility recreation. Whereas referencing one other recreation is legitimate and typically enjoyable, this blatant copying can’t be defined away with that reasoning. As a result of talked about trademark points, these movies can’t be discovered on Youtube.
The Recreation’s Final Destiny
For my part, FNTASTIC will launch a zombie survival MMO recreation. Nevertheless, the sport they promised will stay solely in our goals. We’ll get a recreation that has solely a fraction of what was marketed, is bug-infested, and received’t even come near the trailers. I received’t be shocked if it’ll solely have a couple of hundred gamers at launch and might be deserted in a couple of months.
It’s unlucky, however that’s how the sample of the developer’s video games has been going. It’s solely a rip-off as a result of gamers received’t be getting the product as marketed, however there might be one. The sport’s launch has been delayed twice, as soon as to March 2023 and the second to November 2023. We’ll see then if FNTASTIC can ship on its guarantees.
