The Day Before developer Fntastic has made what may very well be its final official statement before completely shutting down. In it, they reveal when the servers will be shutting down and provide an update in regard to refunds.
The story of The Day Before and Fntastic has, of course, been one of chaos, lying and stupidity that culminated in Fntastic announcing it had run out of money just four days after The Day Before launched on Steam. For the complete rundown, you can check out my lengthy article tracking the game from its announcement to its destruction.
According to this latest post from Fntastic, not only have they “officially ceased operations” but the servers for The Day Before will go offline on January 22, 2024. This is slightly surprising as Fntastic had previously referenced a contract with its server provider for around $1 million for one year, so presumably they must have paid off the remaining balance, or publisher and investor Mytona may have in their stead.
— The Day Before (@playdaybefore) December 22, 2023
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Previously, Fntastic and Mytona confirmed that they were working with Steam to refund players regardless of playtime. However, in today’s statement Fntastic seems to be indicated that ALL players will be getting refunded automatically.
“As previously communicated, Mytona, as the investor, has been working in collaboration with Steam to facilitate the refunds for all the game purchases,” reads the statement. “For any players that have not already had their purchase refunded, Steam will now proactively refund all remaining players.”
Hilariously, grey-market key resellers and other places have been listing The Day Before keys for hundreds of dollars, presumably hoping that the fact that it is no longer available to buy will somehow make it rare and valuable. Of course, just because they are selling it at those prices doesn’t mean anyone is buying them. Various users on Reddit have also reported getting free keys from Fntastic employees simply by Emailing them, because why not?