The Developers Behind "The Day Before" Are Back.

[@BellularNews]

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[@Sparkbomber]

Call em what they are: scammers. Not developers.

[@TheJman669]

I still haven't gotten over their "Volunteer" policy seems like indentured servitude to me.

[@jker2012]

Unfortunately folks seem to defend this by saying, "you don't have to do it." It's what I was asking with the new Skate game "playtests." Granted, the Skate series has been historically good, and people are excited to play it. Still, Quality Assurance is a BIG job title in the gaming industry. EA and Fntastic can afford to hire those positions.

[@Athasin]

Looks like they're getting right back to it since people didn't fall for their crowdfunding scheme.

[@arcticafrostbite617]

@@jker2012 nice job violating the NDA for skate.

[@artsyscrub3226]

@@jker2012 yeah beta tests and volunteer testers aren't unusual when the game is close to finishing and they want community feedback but to immedtly ask for volunteer work which is essentially just making games for free...raises red flags even their map contest is making me narrow my eyes

[@HVTILLVIB]

​@jker2012 I think the two scenarios are very different. Participating in a play test is more consumer-oriented while volunteer work falls closer to the category of employment. Most would consider play tests and betas as a time period of trying a product before purchase, while in Fntastic's case, their volunteer program's main incentives are "future returns" or "career acceleration." There were interviews on ex-employees who stated that they joined the team in hopes of getting into game development rather than receiving the product.

[@johntaylor7029]

When a known liar is telling you they are changing and that honesty is important, keep your guard up.

[@philritter9042]

Exactly it’s fair to give them the benefit of the doubt but you don’t trust anything they say until they actually produced results. Best example is still No Mans Sky they also over promised hard acknowledged their mistake and actually made good on it and now that game is amazing but it took quite a bit of time for them to regain trust as it should be. If it’s too easy they’ll just do the same again

[@midnightmalice4501]

​​​@@philritter9042 giving someone the benefit of the doubt literally translates to trusting them, and believing they are being honest about what they are saying. You shouldn't do that with pretty much any company that is in the business to make money. And you should definitely not give this company the benefit of any doubt. You should think that everything they do and say is a scam intended to separate people from their money, by doing the least amount of work possible. If you buy a meal and they charge you 20, come set some chewed up chicken bones on your table and go, oh sorry.... That's not what you wanted? Well, your bank can refund you due to fraud, but please come back next month, we will have some awesome ribs for only 25. Do you go OK but, I want to see the ribs before I pay you.... No. You go, nah. I'm good. I won't be returning to your store. This is NOT a NMS situation. They fixed the thing they sold FIRST before asking you to spend for something else. Just like if the chicken you ordered took another 20 minutes but it came out and was awesome... THEN maybe think about coming back for the ribs.

[@TheRogueWolf]

"We didn't scam you; we just tried to take your money for a product we lied about, and since Steam refunded you, technically we gave you your money back."

[@Dat_Jonx]

Can't wait for The Day Before 2: Big Laundering Boogaloo

[@cronft]

i cant wait for the day before 3: electric turd boogaloo

[@mjdevlog]

Nah the sequel would be The Year After

[@mrhyde8764]

I told my friend that it was gonna be a scam and he didnt believe me

[@philritter9042]

Does your friend get scammed a lot? They couldn’t be more obvious with everything they have done and are doing at this point I’d be better for them to ditch their name and make a new company

[@DaniVegaz]

Same. Called it day one. Or should I say, the day before? Haha

[@Kragoth86]

stop giving proven scammers money, jesus. in this current climate we can't afford to give these clowns second chances

[@Nick-cs4oc]

This is definitely a con, but if they keep doing it and getting away with it then it’s just good capitalism

[@Mark-nh7zg]

Shout out to the time that Riot, who ran the Dota 1 forums, deleted all of the content in the Dota 1 fan hero creations subforum and then added those heroes into LoL

[@EastyyBlogspot]

They still could not afford that extra vowel

[@chaing-kai-shek2862]

The Day Before 2: The Search For More Money

[@RookMeAmadeus]

This WOULD be a good use for Spaceballs: The Flame Thrower...

[@crashzone6600]

Instead of completing the games they produce, they start new scams.

[@mdb45424]

it didnt get crowdfunded so they scrapped it. They are indebt and trying to make quick cash at this point.

[@philritter9042]

@@mdb45424wasn’t that what they did to begin with? Wasn’t it this company that made promo for other games during day before announcements and such? It seems to me that they never even wanted to make a real game and now they are back since their first scam wasn’t big enough

[@hafirenggayuda]

From all the new info I gather so far, now I finally sure those brothers are complete M (can't even type this, why YT?) Before this, I was one of many "conspiracy theorist" who think those two have long term scheme or doing "The Producers". But nope, just M

[@tehbeernerd]

I pronounce them “F’ntastic” because that’s the reaction I get whenever I see that they’re in the news again

[@orvilleredenpiller338]

I pronounce it "F'ntastic" because as far as I'm concerned that just IS THEIR NAME with the way they spell it.

[@StephenMcGregor1986]

@@orvilleredenpiller338 replace the first t with sp

[@shadiafifi54]

​@@StephenMcGregor1986😂😂

[@Thump505]

They are trying to monetize apologies post scam

[@TheWhopGod]

Cant steam perma ban that company from releasing anything on the platform?

[@mdb45424]

they dont have too. devs are listed and most people heard about the drama.

[@Aryasvitkona]

They'll just make a shell corpo to do it. Like uhh.. who was the people Sterling kept covering back in 2018? Devolver Digital?

[@darkhawk5231]

@@Aryasvitkona Devovler Digital?? i think you got something completely wrong because those are legit devs responsible for the likes of Hotline Miami, Enter the Gungeon and some of the funniest "Press Conferences" during E3. Those are NOT Scammers at all!

[@shadiafifi54]

​​@@AryasvitkonaYou mean Digital homicide. But eventually people wised up and dropped like yesterday's trash. The Romaine bros supposedly got the hint and left the game development industry.

[@syvulpie]

They weren't sorry the day before but they are sorry the day after.

[@KiltedCritic]

Amazing there were STILL people willing to hand them money despite everything. Says more about gamers than Fntastic.

[@diestormlie]

Eternal September- just because BASICALLY everyone has heard of them doesn't mean EVERYONE has.

[@darkhawk5231]

there were actually people enjoying The Day Before and i have NO CLUE how someone could find enjoyment in THAT! You'd have to be content with the smallest hint of a game somewhere deep inside the asset flip for this...

[@nocturnalverse5739]

"There's a sucker born every minute."

[@MrHocotateFreight]

Corruption always claws back to try again.

[@Boreece]

They also lied about Escape Factory assets being "carefully designed and crafted" by their team when a lot of it was just bought from the asset store.

[@SPkiller31]

And the worst thing is, even if they keep pumping fake Kickstarter campaigns with 5 backers max, they will still profit from doing nothing.

[@diestormlie]

I mean- as I understand it, Kickstarter should only be taking your money if the funding goal is reached? They should be pumping fake Indiegogos!

[@SpicyFiur]

The best Prop Hunt game that COULD exist. Is one that's randomly generated. Yes the current games aren't bad. But there are people that memorize everything. And they wont have any issue finding the people. I wish for a random generized prop hunt game. It would be soo good.

[@TheBlueDevilXD]

if you put lipstick on a pig it's still a pig, scammers will be scammers no matter what changes they make

[@Athasin]

This what the 4th time Fntastic has been back since they shut down _The Day Before._ At this point it's laughable.

[@mdb45424]

day before left them in big debt from all the resources they bought, servers bougth and of course fines from steam themselves, this is just a quick cash grab before they go bankrupt.

[@RookMeAmadeus]

They built up years of hype, ended up releasing a product that made Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing look good by comparison, then shut down their servers days after launch. One of the only times in history to that point that Steam FORCED refunds for a game. And people were ready to give them MORE money?

[@boxhead6177]

Not the only time. There have been a few times Steam has released unconditiional full refunds for a game, but usually the publisher / developer accepts Steams decision after the fact to do so. Now Steam is rolling out more and more policies about giving user more product information, season pass and dlc guarantees etc. So we may see this more.

[@HeavyMetalPootis]

Fntastic team got theoretical degrees in game design.

[@rrc3]

They may be bad at making zombie games, but they're pretty good at doing a zombie impersonation.

[@Cer1ph]

Internet memory can be short, but not this short. These boys need hide out a while longer

[@dnakatomiuk]

There's another one called Paradise that's a scam as well

[@BinToss._.]

Prop Night was an actually good game. As another comment pointed out, however, it suffered from memorization which led to new players being skill gated.

[@jasonbeneke4710]

When scammers aren't arrested, they're going to eventually come back to scam again. 🤷‍♂️

[@the_dark_soul_of_man]

Bros thought that if switching from red to blue worked for Umbrella corp., surely it will work for them as well.

[@VYKSU]

Every Bellular video feels like the exact same video

[@ryanmattia433]

I don't really mind map design contests, but the company has to have a fleshed out high quality FINISHED AND RELEASED project made by paid workers. Needless to say, a map design contest for an unreleased game is absolutely, as you said, speculative labor.

[@TheVisualDigitalArts]

I Saw the title and got excited The drama is more fun than their games.

[@Aryasvitkona]

At the very least, scope wise, Escape Factory is at least plausible for their company to successfully make. I still wouldn't have bought it or cared it, nor would I expect them to be successful in actually launching it, but at least it was within the realm of possibility. A much better promise than their horror of The Day Before, who I don't even think Riot could have succeeded in making.

[@linuxwillrise]

it'll be different this time trust me bro

[@TheRealJDPerry]

The Escape Factory Kickstarter didn't simply fail Kickstarter took action against them. I reported it an got an email back from Kickstarter using the exact words "we are taking action".

[@psachickennugget8617]

Can’t wait for “The Day After”

[@lwo7736]

DONT BE SORRY, BE COMPETENT

[@greenmind5328]

Fntastic making games great again.

[@code_renard]

Seeing that crypto is once again having another rise for god knows what reason, I'm confident people love getting scammed

[@mdb45424]

that would be the hope in the economy recovering from trump. Basically people are betting on people having extra money and wanting to get in on a pump an dump before the bubble pops

[@code_renard]

@@mdb45424 If anything, if Trump actually follows through with his braindead idea of having America be in possession of a Bitcoin reserve, it will basically devalue the dollar all the way to hell and crumble Bitcoin shortly after.

[@KingsGamingX-w7y]

Glad to see others covering this besides just me

[@bobbenson6825]

Gotta keep up the grift, they have no other business model. Thanks for keeping us informed.

[@cronft]

i think part of the reason why they "returned" is because almost no one brought their story of them stop producing games, since it was known what they whent by a diferent name after "fntastic ceased of existing", so likely they tried to go the route of "we will be more transparent! we will become better!" and all that spiel in hopes they could get the desired effect(which ofc, it didnt), and now unsuprisingly a majority what still gives them some degree of attention does not shallow their lies in any way or form due to their unwillingless to keep their word with their last crowfunding of ceasing making games if it failed also the survey they did about people could be willing to crowfunding another game could be probably doctored in some way, because i doubt the numbers they gave are truthfull

[@Russian_engineer_bmstu]

Yeah, I am sorry for that

[@mjstarart]

Can all internet scams going forward be like this? With the exception of the worker abuse, it's pretty ideal for the public. Everyone got a refund, those who choose to get to watch the scammers fall comically from grace, and content creatirs get thousands in ad revenue.

[@darksidegryphon5393]

So, you know that Southpark guy saying "I'm sorry" over and over again?

[@mjdevlog]

Their next game would be "The Year After"

[@chrishoppner150]

How was that saying again? Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice, start a Kickstarter.

[@APEGantz]

*play South Park sorry meme"

[@ROCKONNGUNDAMS]

Every time they do this, the first thing I think is "Again? Really?"

[@royconestoga7326]

Good. Needed a giraffe.

[@Kalinskiya]

The Day Before and The SCAM After!

[@blazernitrox6329]

Maybe this is a combination of my perspective as a hobbyist game dev and the benefits of hindsight, but a game company marketing itself as "wanting to make games that will be loved for decades" strikes me as a huge red flag. Like, IMO you don't say something like that because you want to make good games that people will enjoy, you say that because you want to be rich and famous but you have to pretend it's about the quality of your work. [Edit] Re: the whole "speculative labor" bit: I recognize that whether I engage in such a competition is on me. But I also recognize that the organization is complicit in it by, y'know, being the organizers. I would be more willing to buy the "community engagement" narrative if the _only_ reward was having your map added to the game, with credits. In that case, the reward is _explicitly_ that community members get a chance to be a part of something they enjoy. But the rewards also include what I would consider monetary compensation, which paints it less as competing in a talent show and more as bidding for a contract.

[@valkasolidor6727]

As a gamer, my first instinct about the crowd sourcing of content is, it's good. It looks more imaginative, inspired and fun than a lot of what I'm seeing, so I'm not even much inclined to be critical of the process since it is was freely offered. I'm a career musician of many decades, a BMI affiliated composer, performer and arranger, and because of the ever increasing power of a handful of corporations I am somewhat hamstrung by the misuse of DRM practices such that it's not even easy for me to use my own original works on major platforms. Is the company a fraud? They may not even acknowledge it to themselves, but yes, certainly to some degree. But I'm willing to consider the possibility that they really do believe they can create good games, even if cashing in is part of their dream. As for The Day Before in particular, I don't even consider it the biggest disaster. Rather, I'm amazed at how very few offerings we get in the open world action/survival adventure genre. I'm somewhat of a fan of DayZ and how much it has been tweaked and improved over time, but find it absurd that there are so few if any viable competitors after so many years. Even with numerous engine improvements they're still loaded with legacy issues such as the crazy physics bugs and limitations. My view of the Day Before release was that if they had actually made a few more systems functional they'd have had a shot. Kind of ironic actually how much was made of the asset flip thing since that would probably be the end result of their new works if not for "community volunteer" contributions. No, I did not buy Day Before, but if I had and given the choice, I'd be more anxious to get back what I paid to RSI, or Quantum Integrity, or Brian Fargo.

[@TheCasualSubculturist]

Aren't sorry enough it seems, since they are back.

[@orvilleredenpiller338]

I have no idea how people don't pronounce the company's name as "F-n Tastic".

[@rabbit2686]

I didn't buy into them the first time, I"m not buying into them a second. I'm usually willing to be proven wrong about something though.

[@unblessedcoffee1457]

Day Before Bros... WE ARE BACK

[@GuardianM25]

I hope valve bans the entire studio and any shell companies they make from selling at all on steam

[@INF2.160]

F’ing fantastic more like it

[@HereticalKitsune]

Dunno, while I understand volunteering and good will work, doing it for a gaming company doing it privately? Not for me. If it was some kind of free game for a good cause, then I could understand working for free, but not for something that is supposed to make money.

[@philslaya]

not really true on the refind thing,,, steam forced the refunded not the devs get it right!

[@theotherjared9824]

I still don't believe "most wishlisted game on steam" was ever legit.

[@BrianRocksNow]

You can be forgiven for spending money on one or two of Fntastic's previous endeavors, but if you put a dime into their "products" now, you deserve what you get.

[@TheRealJDPerry]

The brothers are delusional main character narcissists, they aren't going to go away.

[@bryanaustin8362]

Video starts at 5:50

[@KryyssTV]

And the funny thing is that given how they have the existing codebase already made up for Prop Night if they had even half a dozen, half-decent developers working a nomal 40-hour week then they'd have the game finished within 6 weeks. Given how that hasn't happened I'd say this is yet another con and there isn't even a dev team this time.

[@robsolf]

Who are those 50 backers? I've got a BS project of my own I want to sell.

[@koneko_shitsuren]

imagine losing trust from the entire gaming community then coming back with another scam like nothing happened

[@occularmalice]

The biggest problem they have is they're deceptive and just create sub-par work. Getting the community to design your maps, which is the biggest part of making a good map, is just getting free work done. Also, Prop Night was shut down by Mytona and Mytona won't give them the IP and yet here they are making a clone game of something they already developed. Mark my words, 6 months or a year from now they'll release ITEMS and it'll be a carbon copy clone of their own game, just with new characters and maps. No creativity whatsoever.

[@MemoryMori]

NEVER FORGET, NEVER FORGIVE!!! They are scammers.....

[@themurricane8711]

you guys are slacking. they came back a while ago

[@mdb45424]

they did, went down in flames came back, also went into flames and now they are trying to resale their prop hunt assets into a new game.

[@MoreImbaThanYou]

Honestly, this clown show was even better than the whole Warcraft reforged, overwatch 2 or concord debacle, based on the entertainment it provided.

[@ChimeraMerah]

Were those examples of the maps submitted you showed actually from the submissions? Because 90% of those were AI generated, lol. They're getting scammed almost as much as they're scamming.

[@smoore6461]

They have a grift, they have gotten away with it and suffered no ill effects from scamming people. So why wouldn't they do it again? they may not have gotten money the first time. why not try again

[@project1003]

Lying liars and the lies they tell. The scam goes on and on. As long as people keep giving these clowns money, they'll keep coming back for more.

[@lockekosta9014]

Fntastic: When asset flippers believe their own nonsense... XD Anyone who fell for The Day Before frankly deserved to be scammed though. It was obvious from the get-go. >.>

[@xvoidgamer]

Fake it till you make it...

[@insertmoneyhere]

isnt this the third time the same story comes up?

[@mdb45424]

their other two new games failed to fund so they scrap it. This story is them trying to pivot into something they did before and sell it as a new game.

[@ItsChuckShirley]

✨✨" V o l u n t e e r "✨✨

[@umath6392]

จริงๆแล้วแค่ทำเดย์บีฟอออกมาให้ดีออกมาให้เสร็จตามที่เคยวางเป้าหมายไว้คงไม่น่าจะมีปัญหาอะไรล่ะนะ ...แต่ ทำไมถึงไม่ทำล่ะ? ผมก็เลยสงสัยตรงส่วนนี้มากกว่าล่ะนะ .

[@archerVSlucas]

Of course it was a bait & switch, asset flip scam. What else would it be? People just got lucky that the actual publisher stood up for the players and refunded everyone because of how obvious of a cheap scam it was. Otherwise their money would just be gone for good. I can't believe anyone is still trusting these clowns.

[@mdb45424]

some are just there to watch the train wreck, others just want to be in the game ;3

[@LOUamber-n9l]

so they hide in singapore

[@_GntlStone_]

Doesn't sound Fan-tastic to me 🤷‍♂️😋

[@marcoasturias8520]

Can they simply make a game?

[@GoGreenBasti]

Shit happens.

[@BeanMann]

Fucking early gang reporting for duty

[@AlwayzFresh]

You dont get a second chance, not in business. Nobody wants a new prop hunt game. Go away Fntastic nobody wants you half baked crap. Stop trying to find a short cut to success.

[@Aryasvitkona]

You do get a second chance though. This is their 5th or smth like that though, and that is fucking absurd. I'll give people maybe a second and third chance, but fntastic are on like chance 5 and at least 2 of those chances were absolutely disgustingly explosively badly squandered. So fuck em.

[@RedRabbit-ZA]

The scam must go on.

[@webbyoyster]

They're a scam studio, plain and simple

[@sagbag856]

at this stage. like i have done for many years have a part time job and make games as passion projects. fntastic 2.0 or whatever should stop ebeggin and just make games. the problem is that they keep beggin the crowd for funds and promise ambiguous projects that are frankly out of their league. i just feel they can earn some respect that way. the apology is fine. but stop ebeggin for funds in return for second chances. i think it works for most people. the denial is just sad off them.

[@TheCrazyCapMaster]

To be completely honest, I can’t reasonably be upset about the idea of a contest for fans to submit map ideas. That’s just… fan participation. 95% of the time, folks would applaud this as a good thing, and the fans aren’t being asked to do any of the technical work (the rules specifically state a drawing is good enough, plus spitballing some ideas about map balance- they don’t promise to use the winner’s rules, just the winner’s map). Plus, just because one fan map is being added doesn’t necessarily mean they aren’t doing other maps themselves, a conclusion a lot of folks seem to have accidentally jumped to, indirectly at least. They’ve already proven they can actually create this kind of game successfully. Don’t risk your money upfront, obviously, that would be foolish; but let’s wait and see what happens.

[@PeterPan-cy7oy]

scammer cant stop scamming seems a charactertrade

[@hawkshot867]

Bro you don't revive the same company... Rebrand and reorganize at least.

[@sleeper6000]

They literally ripped off or at a minimum did an extremely derivative imitation of the twitch branding & font for their fntastic studio logo. It’s really pathetic & the bullshit antics these guys get up to take away from the work of actual studios or indie devs making great projects. I’m sick of these dudes

[@BluntObjectTrauma]

Wonderful. There's always more idiots to take advantage of.

[@kiryuukazuma04]

Shameless. Lmao

[@Cantimule]

It's 12 year olds playing pretend game developer studio.

[@kevlav10]

Bro is late on the news