Steam’s most wishlisted game ‘The Day Before’ delayed as fans question the game’s existence

The Day Before has garnered a lot of hype over the past year, going on to become the most wishlisted game on Steam and earning spots in big public keynotes, including Nvidia's recent GeForce Special Event at CES. However, fans are growing increasingly concerned about the game's development progress, as a promised gameplay trailer has been pushed back, along with the release of the game. 

The Day Before was due to launch on the 1st of March in Early Access. However, over the last 24 hours, it has come to light that the studio behind the game, Fntastic, does not own the trademark, as the game was announced before the company filed for it. Now, a private individual holds the trademark for the game's name, and Fntastic has yet to resolve the situation.

Due to this, Fntastic claims that it has to delay the game, pushing it back to November 2023. The studio is also saying that it needs to consult with its lawyers before releasing promised gameplay footage, which was due to go live sometime today.

Interestingly, the Steam page for The Day Before also mysteriously disappeared last night, one day ahead of Fntastic's planned reveal. This has led some to doubt the legitimacy of the product being made. It has been claimed that footage seen in previous alpha builds uses pre-made assets, and there is concern that some of the footage shown previously isn't representative of the actual game.

Fntastic hasn't been perfect with its communication either. As Force Gaming points out in a video on the matter, the studio has previously hyped up ‘big reveals' only to then release vlog-style developer updates with no new information or gameplay footage.

The situation is now being compared to a similar issue with a company known as Blue Box Games.

Blue Box Games made a name for itself with its supposedly real horror game, Abandoned, which was announced during a PlayStation showcase and has been routinely delayed since. That studio has also made promises to show footage, only to announce delays once the clock ticked down. Fntastic has similarly made promises and not delivered, to the point where even some of the game's official Discord mods are questioning whether or not the game exists. However, while Blue Box has released and delisted unsuccessful projects, Fntastic does at the very least have one other product available – Prop Night, a game that is still available on Steam today, although it does have mixed reviews.

Aside from Prop Night and The Day Before, Fntastic also has its own app in development, known as Continent, which the studio reportedly uses internally to manage and communicate with its remote workforce.

The company has yet to comment on ongoing speculation around The Day Before.

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KitGuru Says: Have you been following The Day Before? Do you think the game will eventually be pushed through to release? 

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