The Day Before is definitely not a scam, devs insist

Co-founders of the studio developing Steam wishlist hit The Day Before have rejected claims the game is a scam. The post-apocalyptic survival MMO was delayed from March to November this week as it turned out the devs hadn't actually got the game trademarked, prompting accusations from within the game’s Discord and Reddit communities that it might not exist at all. Talking to IGN, Eduard and Aisen Gotovtsev insisted that the delay was necessary and had been planned before the game’s Steam store page was removed.

"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,” the brothers told IGN. “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."

They also added: "We understand that some players, not seeing the whole picture, might have doubts about the game. Our whole focus has always been on the product itself. We’ve been creating the game for four years. All these years have been full of sweat and blood to make this game, and for many members of our team, 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 to The Day Before has been held in the US by an individual known as Sun Jae Lee since November last year, but Fntastic believe they can resolve the situation before the game’s new release date of November 10th 2023. Earlier this month, and prompted by the community, Fntastic announced they would release unedited, raw footage of The Day Before for the first time. They had intended to show that footage sometime this month, but The Day Before’s Steam store page was removed this week and the game received a months-long delay.

The Day Before’s head community moderator, Wholf, had initially advised players on the game's Steam forums to be patient and wait for Valve to put the store page back up. That post has since been deleted, however. Wholf then seemed to call into question whether the game was even real on The Day Before’s Discord server, stating that they'd never seen any of the proposed raw gameplay footage - although that’s since been deleted too.

In a slightly bizarre move, the end of Fntastic's statement to IGN sees them compare themselves to a 90s action movie hero. “Making a fantastic journey from the very ends of the earth, we feel like that simple guy from 90s action movies. You probably remember him as the hero who breaks through the veil of disbelief when no one believes in him, but he finds the inner strength to win and prove to everyone what he is worth in the end.”

See, lads, it’s that kind of thing that makes people wonder. In any case, The Day Before is now due out on Steam on November 10th, but the store page is still down for the time being.