Amidst a lot of controversies, Fntastic recently launched early access of their latest game, The Day Before. However, things seem to have gone down south for the game and the developer with the game now being shut down before a proper release.
Things have never been smooth for the game ever since its early trailers. The developers were constantly faced with accusations of ‘scamming users’ as well as trademark lawsuits and more. Finally, the game’s early access was launched at the recent The Game Awards 2023 on December 7, 2023. However, their woes didn’t end there either, as the game received overwhelmingly negative reviews on Steam.
Several players called out the game for being a scam as it did not justify the MMO genre it was being advertised as. Just a couple of days after its failure, the publisher Mytona recently issued a statement on their X handle. In the statement, they apologized to those users who felt the game didn’t meet their expectations.
— Mytona (@mytona_official) December 11, 2023
Additionally, Mytona also said that it is currently in the process of working with Steam to offer refunds to anyone who feels that the game has wronged them, regardless of playtime. Ironically, the news comes just hours after developer Fntastic revealed that it is shutting its doors because the game has “failed financially”.
Is Fntastic shutting down?
Fntastic, posted a statement late on December 11, 2023, on X. They announced the company’s closure merely days after launching The Day Before’s early access. Thus Fntastic has shut down with immediate effect.
In its statement, Fntastic stated, “Today, we announce the closure of Fntastic studio. Unfortunately, The Day Before has failed financially, and we lack the funds to continue. All income received is being used to pay off debts to our partners.”
Official statement. #fntastic #thedaybefore #propnight pic.twitter.com/AKcRHeIaIW
— Fntastic (@FntasticHQ) December 11, 2023
The post also mentioned a timeline of the studio ever since its inception in 2015. The first game to be released by Fntastic was The Wild Eight, followed by two releases, Dead Dozen and Radiant One in 2018. After a three-year gap, the developer returned with Propnight in 2021, before releasing The Day Before this year.
The post also noted that the future of The Day Before and Propnight is unknown, however, they plan on keeping the servers operational.
How to get a refund for The Day Before on Steam?
Meanwhile, players can request a refund for The Day Before, in case they purchased the $39 early access. The process of requesting a refund for The Day Before on Steam is the same as for any other game. According to Steam’s refund policy, the player must have purchased the game less than 14 days prior and played it for less than two hours to be eligible for a refund.
However, in the case of The Day Before since the publisher has decided to issue a refund irrespective of playtime, the second clause may be waived off. Besides considering that the game launched just five days ago, the 14-day window criteria is met by default.
To request a refund on Steam, players must first log in to their Steam account and visit Steam Help. Next, they must head to “Purchases.” A complete list of games purchased will be displayed. Players must then click on The Day Before from the list.
Steam will then ask for a reason for the refund and validate the request. Usually, the platform does not need a solid reason and refund requests easily go through. Plus in this case, the reason won’t matter. Players should get their refunded money pretty quickly.