The anticipation for video game releases is always intense, especially if the launch date is close. Fans and other players have a lot of expectations when promises are made, which is also why it's such a huge disappointment when the studio fails to deliver.
Devs Blame Content Creators
Video game studios don't always hit their mark when it comes to reaching their consumers' standards. However, there are always better ways to respond. Such a thing did not occur to Fntastic, the developer behind The Day Before.
The studio blamed "bloggers" and "content creators" for the game's fiery downfall, saying that they have profited from the negative feedback they have given the game. In the company's words, the content creators "triggered a gold rush," as mentioned in Kotaku.
The game was released back on December 7th, 2023, and it did not last very long. The studio eventually pulled the game from Steam and announced that the game's servers were shut down by January 22nd, 2024, along with Fntastic's website and social media accounts.
It's easy to say that the critics were to blame for the game's demise, but those who have played the game claim that the studio had a lot of shortcomings too. For one, they were promised an open-world survival MMO that would be "a real breakthrough for the MMO survival genre."
Those who were waiting patiently for the game had to wait through many delays, mostly because the title shifted from Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal Engine 5. It did not help that the studio also faced a trademark issue, further delaying the release date.
When The Day Before was released, players claimed that it had a lot of bugs and that the announced features of the game did not exist. Since then, a flurry of negative reviews emerged on various platforms from both critics and general players alike.
Even with all the hate the game received, Fntastic is not done with creating titles just yet. The studio announced that people should subscribe to their social networks to see what the team would work on next.
How They Should've Handle Criticism
Fntastic is not the first studio to receive backlash after the buggy release of a game. One of the most famous examples of a hyped-up title that needed a couple more tweaks was Cyberpunk 2077 when it was released back in 2020.
Fans had high expectations from the trailers of the game, especially as it included Keanu Reeves, and because the studio behind the game, CD Projekt Red, has already proven how skilled they are with creating video games with The Witcher game series.
However, the game was full of bugs that sometimes hindered players from progressing in the main story. Instead of laying blame on anyone else, CD Projekt Red poured in millions of dollars and countless efforts to fix the game.
The studio gradually issued updates for bug fixes among other updates, and the game is now considered as one of the best open-world games out there. Maybe the devs could learn a thing or two from CDPR about how to maneuver a failed release.
