Earlier this month, the zombie-themed online action game The Day Before launched on Steam. However, it was clear that the Unreal Engine-powered game from developer Fntastic was released in a broken state. A few days after launch, Fntastic announced it was shutting down its operations. At the time, it stated that “we don’t have the funding to continue the work” on updating The Day Before.
While the developer may have shut down, the game itself was still playable for its remaining players. Indeed, MassivelyOp reported today that Steam keys for The Day Before were selling on the key grey market for hundreds of dollars for reasons that are known only to the people putting them on sale and the people buying them.
However, it looks like all current game players will no longer be able to play it, at least in an official capacity. Today, The Day Before’s official X (formerly Twitter) account announced that the servers for the game will shut down one month from today, on January 22, 2024.
— The Day Before (@playdaybefore) December 22, 2023
The X post stated that Mytona, who was the main investor in the game, is working with Valve “to facilite refunds for all game purchasers”. It added that any remaining players of the game who have not gotten their money back will get a proactive refund from Steam.
The post added:
We extend our gratitude for the community’s support throughout the project’s life Unfortunately, without a development team, we had no alternative choice but to officially close the project. We sincerely thank all our supporters throughout this journey and wish you all a happy holiday season.
The Day Before received some of the worst reviews ever for a commercially released PC game before the developer announced its shutdown. IGN gave it a 1 out of 10, with the reviewer stating it was “easily one of the worst games I’ve ever played.” GamesRadar’s review said, “Your brain deserves better than this, so don’t let this walking corpse of a game anywhere near it.”